i,\yc^' 


Studies  on  the  Geography 
of  Virginia 


THESIS 

BV 

GEORGE  THOMAS  SURFACE 

In  Partial  Fulfilment  of  the  Requirements  for  the  Degree  of 
DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 


*■      Of  TH£ 

UNIVERSITY 

OF      - 


UNIVERSITY  OP  PENNSYLVANIA 

1907 


^ 


GEOGRAPHIC    INFLUENCE     ON    THE    ECO- 
NOMIC HISTORY  OF   VIRGINIA. 


G.   T.   SURFACE. 


The  desire  of  gain,  ambition  for  personal  notoriety,  and  relief  from 
religious  or  political  oppression  are  the  three  important  stimuli  which 
have  led  to  the  discovery  and  occupancy  of  new  territory.  Each  of 
these  figured  in  the  discovery  and  colonization  of  America.  The 
commercial  prompting  predominated,  since  the  great  end  to  be 
achieved  was  the  discovery  of  a  shorter  route  to  the  South  Sea, 
which  would  make  the  Indian  trade  more  accessible.  Whatever 
causes  may  have  led  to  founding  the  Spanish  settlements  of  the 
South,  and  later  the  Puritan  settlements  of  New  England,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  prospect  of  financial  reward  was  the  chief  incentive 
which  led  to  the  settlement  of  that  part  of  the  American  continent 
known  as  Virginia. 

The  expedition  of  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  having  proved  a  failure. 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh — his  half  brother — secured  the  patent  renewed 
to  himself,  March  26th,  1584,  and  sailed  April  27th  from  the  west 
coast  of  England  with  two  small  vessels.  He  sailed  by  way  of  the 
Canaries,  and  reached  the  coast  of  Florida  July  4th,  thence  north- 
ward nine  days  to  34°  N.  Latitude,  and  landed  on  Roanoke  Island* 
at  the  mouth  of  Albemarle  Sound.  He  entered  possession  in  the 
name  and  right  of  the  ~ Virgin  Queen,  and  planted  the  first  Virginia 
colony.  They  found  on  the  island  deer,  rabbits,  and  fowls.  The 
natives  brought  them  melons,  walnuts,  cucumbers,  peas  and  grapes, 
together  with  skins,  corals  and  pearls,  which  they  gladly  exchanged 
for  knives,  hatchets,  and  toys.  The  report  of  the  Indians  as  to  the 
beauty  and  wealth  of  the  inland  country  was  so  favourable  that 
Raleigh  returned  to  England  about  the  middle  of  September  (1584) 
to  make  representation  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  She  promised  what- 
ever assistance  might  be  necessary  for  promoting  and  perfecting  the 

*  According  to  Hariot''s  Treatise  and  With's  map  (both  men  were  members  of  the  expedition)  they 
landed  first  on  an  island  called  by  the  natives  Wococon,  a  small  island  off  the  coast  between  Cape  Hat- 
teras  and  Cape  Fear.  After  a  short  sojourn  here  they  set  sail  up  the  River  Occam  and  the  next  evening 
landed  upon  Roanoke  Island  at  the  mouth  of  Albemarle  Sound.      Stith's  History  ofVirginia,  p    lo. 

239375 


2       Qev^napjij^' IfC:fliiefu:e''On  the  Economic  History  of  Virginia.   . 

Roanoke  settlement.  A  fleet  of  seven  ships  and  one  hundred  and 
eight  men  was  prepared,  which  set  sail  June  26th  (1585)  under  com- 
mand of  Sir  Richard  Grenville.  Ralph  Lane  was  sent  as  Governor, 
and  instructed  to  make  extensive  expeditions  into  the  mainland. 
These  were  pushed  eighty  miles  southward  to  the  Indian  village  of 
Secotan  (in  the  present  County  of  Craven,  North  Carolina),  and  130 
.  miles  northward  to  the  Indian  village  Chesapeake,  on  the  Elizabeth 
River  (near  the  present  site  of  Norfolk). 

Raleigh  arrived  in  midsummer  and  found  food  supplies  so  abund- 
ant that  he  provided  inadequately  for  the  next  expedition,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  the  colonists  suffered  greatly  during  the  winter. 
This  naturally  discouraged  them,  and  so  great  was  their  want  that 
foul  means  were  employed  for  securing  food  and  skins  from  the 
Indians.  Their  enmity  once  aroused,  they  continued  to  harass  the 
whites  more  and  more.  The  following  spring  and  summer  failed  to 
bring  tidings  or  relief  from  England,  all  of  which  combined  to  make 
the  condition  more  desperate.  The  promoters  of  the  colony  were 
utterly  ignorant  of  the  climatic  conditions,  and  to  this  its  failure  is 
directly  attributable.  Sir  Francis  Drake,  at  the  request  of  the  Queen, 
visited  the  colony  (August  1586)  on  his  return  from  his  successful 
expedition  against  the  Spaniards '^  of  the  South,  and  so  earnest  were 
their  entreaties  that  he  took  with  him  to  England  every  surviving 
member.  This  for  the  time  dampened  the  zeal  for  colonizing  Vir- 
ginia, but  Drake's  cargo  of  gold  set  the  English  merchantmen 
aflame  with  enthusiasm  for  finding  the  source  of  such  fabulous 
wealth.  History  prepares  the  way.  Raleigh  fails  to  find  its  source 
in  the  South  while  on  his  Guiana  expedition.  The  trade  with  the 
East  Indies  had  been  extended,  and  the  revenues  of  the  country 
increased.  The  war  with  Spain  had  revolutionized  and  enlarged 
commercial  relations  in  general  and  the  defeat  of  the  Armada 
laid  the  bed-rock  foundation  for  English  colonization.  The  time 
was  ripe  for  the  exploitation  of  new  schemes  and  enterprises.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  1604,  the  merchants  of  London,  Bristol,  Exeter,  and 
Plymouth  organized  two  companies,  the  "London"  and  "Plymouth," 
the  business  of  the  first  to  be  the  establishment  of  colonies  in  Vir- 
ginia between  34°-38°  N.  Lat.,  and  of  the  second  the  establishment 
of  colonies  between  41° -45°  N.  Lat.     The  fleet  of  the  London  Com- 

*  The  Spanish  colonization  in  the  South  was  primarily  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  gold,  and  this 
they  hoarded.  The  antagonism  between  England  and  Spain  grew  out  of  the  Reformation.  Most  of 
the  wealth  with  which  Philip  II  built  the  Invincible  Armada  came  from  his  American  Colonists.  It 
is  estimated  that  by  i6og  more  than  $5,000,000,000  worth  of  gold  and  silver  had  been  supplied.  As 
Fiske  aptly  expresses  it :  "  It  was  as  the  storehouse  of  the  enemy's  treasure  and  the  chief  source  of 
his  supplies  that  America  first  excited  real  interest  among  the  English  people."— John  Fiske,  Old  Vir- 
j^inia  and  Her  Neighbors,  Vol.  i,  p.  9. 


Geographic  Influence  on  the  Economic  History  of  Virginia.       3 

pany,  consisting  of  three  vessels,  sailed  December  20,  1606,  tinder  the 
command  of  Captain  Christopher  Newport,  and  arrived  at  the  mouth 
of  Chesapeake  Bay,  April  26th.  They  landed  on  the  Cape  and  built 
a  fort,  naming  both  after  Prince  Henry.  This  was  only  to  be  used 
as  a  camp  while  selecting  a  suitable  place  for  the  establishment  of 
the  colony.  The  experience  of  the  previous  expedition  had 
thoroughly  convinced  them  that  the  most  important  essential  was 
the  ease  and  perfection  with  which  the  place  could  be  protected 
from  the  attacks  of  the  Indians.  At  the  mouth  of  the  largest 
river  which  had  been  sighted  from  the  bay  they  found  an  island 
of  sufficient  size,  connected  with  the  mainland  by  a  small  isthmus. 
On  this  they  landed  May  13th,  1607,  and  planted  the  first  permanent 
English  colony  in  Virginia,  which  they  named  Jamestown.  On 
the  22d  of  June,  Captain  Newport  sailed  for  England  with  a 
cargo  of  sassafras  and  fine  wood  for  wainscoting,  the  first  ship- 
ment of  Virginia  products.  Edwin  I.  Wingfield  was  appointed 
president,  but  was  deposed,  and  succeeded^  by  John  Ratcliffe. 
The  location  proved  very  unhealthy,  and  many  died  of  malaria. 
At  the  end  of  the  first  year  the  supplies  were  exhausted,  and  the 
Indian  raids,  starvation,  and  disease  had  much  reduced  the  dis- 
heartened ranks.  Captain  John  Smith  was  the  only  man  in  the 
colony  who  could  inspire  the  colonists  to  perseverance.  He  was 
equal  to  the  task  when  present,  but  his  great  desire  to  find  a  river 
flowing  into  the  South  Sea  kept  him  almost  constantly  on  exploring 
expeditions.  It  is  stated  that  he  was  at  Jamestown  but  three  days 
in  three  months  during  the  summer  of  1608.  In  September  of  this 
year  he  visited  the  great  Chief  Powhatan  at  Werozvocomoco,  a 
village  on  the  north  bank  of  Pamaunke  (York)  River,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  delivering  presents  from  the  King.  In  the  course  of  the 
interview  he  asked  Powhatan  about  the  country  beyond  the  moun- 
tains, occupied  by  the  powerful  Monacans;  and  especially  as  to 
where  salt  water  could  be  found  in  that  direction.  Powhatan  de- 
clared with  emphasis  that  there  was  no  salt  water  beyond  the  moun- 
tains, and  drew  on  the  ground  a  map  of  that  region.  We  may  be- 
lieve that  it  was  very  convincing  to  Captain  Smith,  as  his  further 
explorations  were  chiefly  confined  to  the  Chesapeake  Bay  and  its 
shorter  tributaries.  Smith's  map  of  Virginia  was  based  upon  per- 
sonal observations  and  the  information  supplied  by  Powhatan.  By 
means  of  pictures  he  depicted  the  game  resources,  which  were  to  the 
early  settlers  one  of  the  important  economic  resources.  While 
Smith  was  exploring  the  Tidewater  country  most  of  the  Colonists 
at  Jamestown  were  engaged  in  gathering  "gold  dust,"  with  which 


4       Geographic  hifluence  on  the  Economic  History  of  Virginia. 

the  return  vessels  were  loaded;  but  on  their  arrival  in  England  it 
proved  to  be  "fool's  gold,"  being  nothing  more  than  micaceous  earth 
brought  down  by  the  streams  from  the  crystalline  rock  area  of 
Middle  Virginia.  The  first  Colonial  attempts  at  manufacture  are 
set  forth  in  Smith's  address  to  the  Royal  Council  of  Virginia  sitting 
in  London,  which  message  was  sent  by  Captain  Newport  in  1608: 
"In  their  absence  [the  boats]  I  followed  the  new  begun  works  of 
pitch  and  tar,  glass,  soap  ashes  and  clap-boards."* 

In  the  same  message  we  have  a  reflection  of  the  character  of  the 
colonists  of  this  period :  "When  you  send  again  [workmen],  I  entreat 
you  to  send  but  30  carpenters,  husbandmen,  gardiners,  fishermen, 
blacksmiths,   masons   and   diggers   of   trees '  roots,   well   provided, 

rather  than  1,000  of  such  as  we  have These  are  the  causes 

that  have  kept  us  in  Virginia  from  laying  such  a  foundation  as  ere 
this  might  have  given  much  better  content  and  satisfaction;  but  as 
yet  you  must  not  look  for  any  profitable  returns. "f 

The  colonists  found  it  difficult  and  dangerous  to  get  an  adequate 
meat  supply  from  the  forests,  so  Gates  sent  his  admiral,  George 
Summers,  to  the  Bermudas  in  1609  to  capture  hogs,  which  they  had 
seen  in  abundance  while  shipwrecked  on  one  of  the  islands.  During 
the  same  year  sheep,  horses,  goats,  and  poultry  were  introduced  from 
Europe,  and  the  following  year  cattle  were  brought  from  the  West 
Indies.  The  extended  use  of  meats  made  salt  a  much-needed  article, 
and  to  meet  this  demand  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  deputy  governor  of  the 
colony,  detailed  a  party  in  161 2  from  the  Jamestown  settlement  to 
go  to  the  Kingdom  of  Accawmacke  (Accomac)  to  manufacture  salt 
by  boiling  salt  water.  This  first  white  settlement  on  the  Eastern 
Shore  was  named  Dale's  Gift,  and,  because  of  the  island's  separate- 
ness  from  the  other  colonies,  the  Kings  of  England  for  many  years 
addressed  all  of  their  decrees  to  the  ''faithful  subjects  in  ye  colonies 
of  Virginia  and  ye  Kingdom  of  Accazvmacke." .  .It  was  in  the  same 
year  that  John  Rolfe  (who  was  married  to  Pocahontas  in  1614) 
began  the  cultivation  of  tobacco.  Dale  always  had  a  strong  faith 
in  the  possibilities  of  the  new  country.  In  a  letter  home  in  1610  he 
said:  "Take  the  four  best  kingdoms  of  Europe,  and  put  them  all 
together,  and  they  may  no  way  compare  with  this  country  for  com- 
modity and  goodness  of  soil."  It  was  he  who  abolished  the  system 
of  industrial  communism  which  had  been  in  vogue  since  the  forma- 
tion of  the  colony.  Each  colonist  was  now  allowed  three  acres  for 
cultivation,  for  which  he  was  to  pay  a  yearly  rent  of  6  bushels  of 

♦Smith's  works,  pp.  442-445.  t  Ibid. 


Geographic  Influence  on  the  Economic  History  of  Virginia.       5 

corn.     The  economic  effect  was  magical;  as  a  result  industry  and 
thrift  began  to  prevail  among  the  lawless  and  thriftless. 

Until  1616  lumber  was  the  only  export  of  the  colonies,  and  this 
in  small  quantities,  chiefly  in  the  form  of  clap-boards.  During  the 
year  Captain  Yeardley  began  the  extensive  cultivation,  of  tobacco"*" 
which  was  indigenous  to  the  country,  and  generally  used  by  the 
Indians.  Yeardley's  predecessor  Dale  had  enacted  a  law  requiring 
that  the  cultivation  of  corn  should  take  precedence  over  tobacco ;  but 
Yeardley  set  this  at  defiance,  and  encouraged '  the  tobacco  industry, 
to  the  neglect  of  all  others.  So  great  was  the  demand  in  England 
that,  in  1619,  the  King  placed  a  duty  of  a  shilling  per  pound  on 
tobacco,  when  the  market  price  was  only  five  shillings.  The  charter, 
however,  called  for  exemption  beyond  5  per  cent.,  and  settlement 
was  effected  by  a  compromise,  in  which  one  of  the  considerations 
was  that  the  cultivation  be  forbidden  in  the  Kingdom.  In  1621,  a 
monopolyf  of  the  tobacco  trade  was  granted  to  certain  individuals, 
at  whose  request  a  proclamation  was  issued,  limiting  the  exportation 
to  55,000  pounds.  The  close  of  the  year  showed  the  market  to  be 
overstocked,  and  the  King  advised  the  colonists  to  turn  their  atten- 
tion more  to  the  cultivation  of  corn  and  the  raising  of  stock.  To 
this  end  the  tobacco  crop  was  limited  to  100  pounds  per  man.  The 
introduction  of  slavery  in  1622  fostered  the  tobacco  industry  still 
more,  to  the  almost  entire  suppression  of  all  others.  The  situation 
was  critical,  and  to  meet  it  the  Assembly  enacted  laws  authorizing 
the  following  bounties :  2  pounds  of  tobacco  for  every  pound  of 
flax  or  hemp  ready  for  the  spindle;  3  pounds  for  every  yard  of 
linen  cloth  a  yard  wide;  5  pounds  for  every  yard  of  woollen  cloth 
made  in  the  province;  and  10  pounds  for  every  dozen  pairs  of 
woollen  or  worsted  stockings.  The  legislature  of  1623  ordered  all 
settlers  to  plant  mulberry  trees;  and  in  1656  an  act  was  passed  im- 
posing a  fine  on  every  planter  who  failed  to  have  one  mulberry  tree 
to  every  10  acres  of  land  in  his  possession,  but  the  labour  surplus  was 
inadequate  for  the  silk  industry  even  if  all  other  conditions  had  been 
favourable.  Prior  to  1609  Smith  had  estabHshed  three  settlements: 
Jamestown,  the  seat  of  the  colonial  government;  Nansemond,  about 
30  miles  below  Jamestown ;  and  Powhatan,  6  miles  below  the  James 
(Powhatan)  River  Falls.  One  hundred  and  twenty  men  were  al- 
lotted to  each,  and  the  industrial  operations  radiated  from  these 
centres.  We  may  feel  sure  that  the  early  promoters  were  strongly 
imbued  with  the  modern  "boom"  idea  from  the  number  of  cities 

*  Indian  name,  uppowoc. 

t  This  was  the  first  tobacco  trust  organized  in  the  history  of  the  world. 


6       Geographic  Influence  on  the  Economic  History  of  Virginia. 

which  were  founded  only  in  name — James  City,  Elizabeth  City, 
Charles  City,  City  of  Henricus  (Henricopolis).  The  agricultural 
development  decreed  the  conquering  of  -the  wilderness,  and  the 
names  of  the  imaginary  cities  survived  as  the  names  of  counties,  the 
City  of  Henricus*  being  changed  to  Henrico.  A  reference  to  the 
map  will  show  that  each  of  these  counties  had  a  water  front  on  at 
least  two  sides.  In  fact,  streams  constitute  the  political  boundaries 
of  the  counties  of  Tidewater  Virginia  to  an  extent  not  to  be  found 
in  any  other  province  in  the  world. 

By  1624  the  colony  extended  from  the  mouth  of  the  James  River 
to  the  James  River  Falls,  with  plantations  on  both  sides,  and  covered 
most  of  the  peninsula  between  the  James  and  York  Rivers  (the  lat- 
ter known  as  Charles  River  until  1642).  Almost  every  plantation 
could  be  directly  reached  by  boat.  Although  Captain  John  Smith 
left  Virginia  in  161 4  not  to  return,  he  predetermined  the  sections 
most  favourably  situated  for  successful  occupancy  by  his  methodic 
study  and  careful  observations  made  during  his  frequent  river  expe- 
ditions. His  economic  deductions  were  largely  based  upon  what  he 
saw.  The  condition  of  the  Indians  gave  the  most  reliable  evidence 
as  to  the  resources  immediately  available.  He  found  the  tribes  of 
the  Lower  Potomacf  and  Rappahannock  comfortable  and  surpris- 
ingly peaceable.  The  tribes  were  also  far  more  numerous,  being  34 
tribes  north  of  the  Rappahannock,  and  only  9  on  the  south  side,  if 
The  superior  oyster  fisheries  of  the  rivers  and  the  neighbouring 
Chesapeake  Bay  waters  made  possible  the  friendly  social  relations 
by  making  easy  the  struggle  for  existence.  Port  Royal  (Caroline 
County)  was  the  terminus  of  the  oyster  beds.  Fishing  was  not  good 
above  that  point,  and  the  stony  land  precluded  cultivation  with  the 
wooden  and  stone  implements,  as  a  result  of  which  we  have  no 
record  of  an  Indian  tribe  residing  permanently  in  the  region.  The 
tribes  met  with  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Fredericksburg  (Spottsyl- 
vania  County)  and  Falmouth  (Stafford  County)  were  representa- 
tives of  the  implacable  warriors  of  the  stony  interior  region ;  which 
affords  a  striking  proof  of  how  much  of  the  treachery  and  barbarity 
of  primitive  peoples  is  pressed  upon  them  by  the  severity  of  the  con- 
flict for  existence,  in  which  only  the  strongest,  shrewdest,  and  most 
daring  can  survive. 

*  Henricus,  founded  in  1611,  was  located  on  Farrar's  Island,  as  the  peninsula  was  called  (near 
Appomatox,  Chesterfield  County). 

+  The  Indian  name  for  the  upper  Potomac  was  Cohongoruton.  It  is  so  named  in  the  Act  of  1738, 
defining  Frederick  County,  The  south  branch  of  the  river  was  called  Wappatomake.  Lord  Fairfax 
used  the  name  Potomack  and  Wappatowmack,  and  Cohongoruton  disappeared. 

X  Smith's  Map  of  Virginia. 


Geographic  Influence  on  the  Economic  History  of  Virginia.       T 

The  Indians  of  the  "Northern  Neck"  Country  being  friendly,  their 
presence  presented  an  additional  inducement  to  English  settlers,  by 
reason  of  the  profits  to  be  realized  from  their  trade.  It  "was  in  this 
region  that  the  next  English  settlements  were  founded. 

If  tobacco  was  "king"  in  the  James  River  country,  the  oyster  may 
be  aptly  designated  as  queen  in  the  "Northern  Neck." 

In  the  establishment  of  an  industrial  system  much  depends  upon 
the  forces  and  conditions  which  give  rise  to  the  initiative.  The  ac- 
quirement of  food  and  clothing  constitutes  the  first  essential.  This 
obtained,  the  most  profitable  commodity,  or  means  of  exchange,  is 
next  to  receive  attention.  The  Virginia  colonists  had  to  meet  the 
first  by  hunting,  fishing,  the  cultivation  of  corn,  raising  of  livestock, 
and  bartering  with  the  Indians.  All  of  the  conditions  precluded  a 
surplus  of  food  stuffs,  so  that  these  are  ruled  out  at  this  stage  as 
possible  commodities  for  exchange.  But  even  if  they  had  been  pos- 
sible, the  demand  would  have  been  so  limited  as  to  make  the  produc- 
tion unprofitable.  They  must  produce  a  surplus  of  that  for  which 
there  is  a  pressing  demand  in  England  to  realize  profitable  results. 
What  were  the  leading  EngHsh  imports?  Iron  and  steel  from 
Spain;  copper  from  Sweden;  wine,  salt  and  canvas  from  France; 
silks  and  velvets  from  Italy;  spices  from  Asia;  and  naval  supplies, 
such  as  tar,  pitch,  cordage,  masts  and  yards,. from  Russia  and  Poland. 
The  search  of  the  colonists  for  gold  and  copper  had  been  futile;  in 
1620,  iron  mines  were  opened  at  the  James  River  Falls,  but  aban- 
doned because  inferior;  the  grape  was  neither  adapted  to  the 
climate  nor  soil;  great  difficulty  was  experienced  in  supplying  the 
domestic  demand  for  salt;  the  silk  industry  was  then,  and  has  ever 
been  impracticable,  because  of  non-adaptability  of  climate  and  lack 
of  labour  supply;  and  the  great  cost  of  transporting  timbers  made 
it  impossible  to  compete  with  closer  markets.  Virginia's  only  hope, 
therefore,  was  to  create  a  new  demand,  of  which  a  surplus  could  be 
produced,  for  the  purchase  of  the  numerous  supplies  necessary  to 
every  country  in  the  establishing  stage.  Fortune  crowned  the  crisis 
in  the  introduction  of  tobacco.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  tobacco  has 
been  called  "king." 

it  seems  timely  here  to  inquire  into  the  economic  foundations  of 
Virginia  society,  which  has  always  been  a  type  of  Southern  society, 
and  why  it  so  radically  differed  from  that  of  New  England.  The 
social  status  of  any  differentiated  society  or  community  is  fixed  by 
the  elemental  habits  and  characteristics  of  the  individuals  compris- 
ing the  group ;  and  by  the  environment^the  objective  forces  brought 
to  bear  on  the  subjective  individual.     Of  these  forces,  the  geographic 


8       Geographic  htfluence  on  the  Economic  History  of  Virginia. 

conditions  and  the  economic  relations  are  by  far  the  most  important. 
Let  us  first  inquire  into  the  nature  of  the  individuals.  The  early 
Virginia  colonists  were  essentially  of  the  English  gentry  on  the  one 
hand,  and  of  the  free  and  bond  servant  classes  on  the  other,  with  a 
few  who  could  lay  claim  to  the  nobility.  This  condition  existed  be- 
cause the  enterprise  was.  primarily  commercial,  and,  in  consequence, 
appealed  to  the  moneyed  interests;" which  in  turn  required  labour 
for  carrying  out  its  purposes.  The  promoters  had  neither  political 
nor  ecclesiastical  grievance,  and  were  not  bound  by  the  stress  of 
poverty,  so  they  adhered  to  their  old  habits,  manners,  tastes  and 
styles  of  living,  in  so  far  as  the  new  conditions  permitted.  The 
same  strict  adherence  to  the_Church  of  England,  and  largely  to  the 
Crown,  was  also  maintained  for  more  than  half  a  century.  The 
plantation  owners  prospered,  and  increased  in  influence  in  the  politi- 
cal arena  to  a  position  which  they  had  found  impossible  in  the  mother 
country.  The  whole  tendency  was  toward  the  establishment  of 
]?:^§?._Jl?i4iPSS.  The  extreme  eastern  coast  was  malarial,  while 
("further  inland  the  climate  was  healthful,  the  soil  fertile,  and  an 
'^bundance  of  game,  which  feature  alone  was  very  inviting  to  the 
English  gentleman.  England  pushed  slave  labour  into  the  colony 
as  rapidly  as  it  could  be  utilized.  The  dissolution  of  the  Company 
in  1624  augmented  the  tendency  to  large  estates,  as  its  policy  had 
been  restraining  in  a  measure,  by  making  the  landowners  of  two 
kinds — the  planter,  who  held  grants  of  land  proportionate  to  his  con- 
tribution of  money  and  emigrants,  and  the  small  holder,  who  re- 
ceived an  allotment  as  remuneration  for  working  on  the  Company 
land  during  a  certain  period.  On  the  dissolution  no  change  was 
made  in  the  tenure,  except  that  the  free  emigrant  had  to  go  out  at 
his  own  expense,  and  bound  in  an  agreement  to  bring  the  land  under 
cultivation  within  a  certain  period  or  forfeit  the  right  of  ownership. 
Under  this  regime  the  yeomanry  class  did  not  progress,  for  the 
reason  that  they  lacked  administrative  ability;  and  having  grown 
accustomed  to  routine  labour  and  dependence,  became  easily  dis- 
couraged under  the  pressure  of  poverty,  responsibility,  and  the 
stronger  external  hand  of  the  landed  aristocracy.  Becoming  poorer, 
they  became  free  servants. 

The  increased  prosperity  of  the  planter  prompted  to  a  life  of 
ease  and  independence.  In  most  cases  he  was  not  even  placed  under 
the  necessity  of  finding  a  market,  or  of  concerning  himself  as  to  the 
ways  and  means  of  securing  supplies,  since  foreign  vessels  loaded 
with  a  variety  of  merchandise  came  up  to  the  plantation  wharves  to 
exchange  their  goods  for  tobacco.     So  satisfactory  were  the  returns 


Geographic  Influence  on  the  Economic  History  of  Virginia.       9 

of  soil  tillage  that  the  manufacturing  enterprises  were  not  prose- 
cuted assiduously,  except  for  those  which  could  be  done  at  home,  by 
way  of  utilizing  the  surplus  labour.  The  attitude  of  the  representa- 
tive planter  is  vouched  for  in  the  words  of  Thomas  Jefferson: 
■''Such  is  our  attachment  to  agriculture,  and  such  our  preference  for 
foreign  manufactures  that,  be  it  wise  or  unwise,  our  people  will  cer- 
tainly return  to  the  raising  of  raw  materials,  and  exchange  them  for 
finer  manufactures  than  they  are  able  to  execute  themselves.  The 
political  economists  of  Europe  have  established  it  as  a  principle  that 
every  state  should  endeavor  to  manufacture  for  itself,  and  this  prin- 
ciple, like  many  others,  we  transfer  to  America  without  calculating 
the  difference  of  circumstance  which  should  produce  a  difference  of 
result."* 

I  have  not  heard  the  opinion  expressed,  but  I  believe  that  slavery 
exerted  a  characteristic  influence  on  Virginia  society  as  marked  as 
was  its  influence  on  the  industrial  system.  It  should  be  remem- 
bered that  up  to  this  time  the  great  majority  of  those  who  had  set 
the  pace  of  a  social  system  so  individualistic  as  to  stand  out  for 
generations  as  characteristic  of  the  typical  Virginian  were  slave 
owners  and  slave  workers,  and  not  slave  traders.  Most  of  the 
slaves  of  this  larger  class  felt  themselves  not  only  a  constituent  part 
of  the  plantation,  but  an  indispensable  part ;  and  so  they  were  under 
the  existing  regime.  This  accorded  to  the  servant  a  feeling  of  self- 
importance,  which  found  its  coimterpart  in  the  personality  of  the 
master.  The  rich  of  every  age  are  very  much  the  same  in  being 
caterers  to  the  recognition  of  the  Court,  the  nobility,  and  the  rich; 
and  we  may  as  truly  add,  to  the  humble,  joyous — and  in  some  cases 
worshipful — recognition  of  those  who  serve  them.  The  latter 
existed  in  the  person  of  the  "old-fashioned  darkey,"  as  he  can  never 
be  again.  The  plantation  equipped  with  a  full  retinue  of  servants 
and  slaves  felt  that  it  was  a  sufficiency  unto  itself,  which,  to  an  ex- 
tent incalculable,  fostered  the  clannish  tendency  toward  seclusion, 
and  intensified  the  ultra-individualism  of  the  cavalier  type. 

Prior  to  1688  Virginia  adhered  strictly  to  the  Church  of  England, 
even  to  legislating  against  the  Puritans,  Quakers,  and  Separatists; 
and  contested  vigorously  the  position  of  the  Presbyterians  within 
her  border.  But  while  this  ecclesiastical  attitude  had  been  main- 
tained, and  its  power  exercised,  the  idea  of  civil  liberty  was  gaining 
strength  in  many  parts.     This  had  been  brought  about  in  part  by 

*  Jefferson's  Notes  on  Virginia,  p.  225  (1781).  After  the  rupture  with  England,  manufacturing 
■was  much  more  emphasized  than  before.  The  domestic  wants  were  largely  supplied  by  home  manu- 
factures, until  the  development  of  factory  enterprises  in  New  England,  which  were  not  extensive  at 
the  time  Jefferson  wrote  his  "  Notes  on  Virginia." 


10     Geographic  Influence  on  the  Economic  History  of  Virginia. 

oppressive  taxation,  and  the  indirect  connection  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses  with  the  Crown;  but  in  an  important  sense  through  the 
influence  of  that  prosperous,  free,  easy,  isolated,  independent  life. 
As  the  civil  attitude  changed,  the  loyalty  to  the  Established  Church 
began  to  weaken.  In  1696  a  law  was  passed  fixing  the  salary  of 
every  clergyman  at  16,000  pounds  of  tobacco.  The  price  so  fluctu- 
ated that  this  made  the  salary  quite  variable.  In  some  parishes  only 
"Orinoco"  could  be  raised,  which  was  inferior  to  "sweet-scented." 
The  books  of  that  time  bear  frequent  reference  to  a  promotion  from 
an  "Orinoco  parish"  to  a  "sweet-scented  parish."  Where  tobacco 
was  not  grown  the  Established  Church  was  without  representation, 
and  it  was  "in  the  tobaccoless  wilderness  voices  were  heard  of  the 
Baptists,  Quakers  and  less  definable  dissenters,  who  were  directing 
the  pioneer  ax  to  the  root  of  the  established  tree  that  protected  the 
throne."* 

The  House  of  Burgesses  passed  an  Act  in  1755  enabling  debtors 
to  pay  their  tobacco  obligations  in  money  at  the  rate  of  i6s.  8d.  per 
hundred  pounds.  The  price  of  tobacco  rose  by  reason  of  the 
drought,  and  many  clergymen  demanded  payment  in  tobacco.  A 
number  of  suits  were  instituted  during  the  succeeding  years,  the 
final  one  being  the  appeal  of  Rev.  John  Camm  to  England  in  1767. 
This  case  was  heard  before  Colonel  John  Henry,  the  father  of 
Patrick  Henry.  Patrick  Henry  had  always  been  loyal  to  the  Church 
and  the  Throne,  but  he  grew  so  indignant  over  the  controversies 
that  he  flamed  out  in  such  an  arraignment  of  the  clergy  as  to  break 
the  authority  of  the  Established  Church,  and  thus  became  the  darling 
of  the  Dissenters,  the  herald  of  the  people's  rights.  As  a  result  he 
was  ardently  supported  when  the  Stamp  Act  agitation  arose,  t 

The  mountainous  portion  of  the  State  was  destined  to  produce  a 
different  type  of  society.  We  have  seen  how  distinctly  different 
were  the  characteristics  of  the  Indians  of  the  western  part  of  the 
State  (Monacans)  and  the  eastern  tribes.  During  the  first  century 
of  Colonial  history  no  attempt  was  made  toward  settlements  in  the 
mountains.  They  were  not  adapted  to  the  use  of  slave  labour,  were 
frequented  by  the  most  treacherous  Indians,  and  so  remote  from 

*  Barons  of  the  Potomac  and  Rappahannock.  It  was  seen  in  the  Chapter  on  Population  that 
the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians  were  the  leaders  in  the  movement. 

t  The  American  Revolution  really  began  with  the  resistance  of  the  colonies  to  the  irritating 
duties  and  regulations  imposed  by  the  Crown  on  the  cultivation  of  tobacco. 

It  should  also  be  remembered  that  a  long  contest  in  the  reign  of  James  I,  which  began  with  the 
discussion  of  the  tobacco  question,  resulted  in  largely  transferring  the  power  from  the  Crown  to  the 
House  of  Commons. 


Geographic  Influence  on  the  Economic  History  of  Virginia.     11 

market  and  void  of  transportation  facilities  as  to  be  wholly  imprac- 
ticable for  occupation. 

The  competition  of  slaves  was  very  irritating  to  the  free  labour- 
ers of  the  East,  and  it  was  difficult  to  obtain  small  holdings,  so 
dominant  and  domineering  was  the  influence  of  the  large  owners. 
As  a  result,  the  bravest,  strongest  and  most  resolute  of  the  free 
labourers  forced  their  way  westward  and  joined  the  Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterians'^,  who  were  coming  in  large  numbers  to  the  Valley 
as  well  as  to  the  Piedmont  frontier.  These  were  the  mountaineers 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  but  must  not  be  confused  with  that  class 
known  as  "poor  whites,"  either  according  to  present  or  past  accept- 
ance of  that  term.  It  is  true  many  of  them  were  poor  in  possessions, 
but  rich  in  valour,  and  came  from  the  great  middle  class  who  had 
tired  of  landlord  oppression  in  England,  and  slavery  competition  in 
eastern  Virginia.  The  indolent,  thriftless,  lower  class  followed  in 
their  wake,  but  at  a  safe  distance — far  enough  removed  from  the  old 
settlements  to  eke  out  a  bare  existence  by  hunting  and  little  work. 
On  the  mountains  they  remained  in  preference  to  subduing  the  great 
forests  of  the  fertile  intervening  valleys,  and  there  they  are  for  the 
most  part  to  be  found  to-day.  In  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury the  life  of  western  Virginia  compared  with  that  of  Tidewater  as 
does  the  ranch  life  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Plains  with 
modern  New  England  society  life.  From  the  first  it  was  a  life-and- 
death  struggle,  in  which  the  weaklings  were  sure  to  go  down.  No 
man  could  stand  alone,  and  so  by  ties  of  mutual  sympathy  and  pro- 
tection they  were  united  in  hearty,  unselfish  fellowship.  As  a  class 
they  were  clannish,  and  more  or  less  superstitious;  loyal  in  their 
friendships  and  inexorable  in  their  hates,  but  brave,  just,  generous, 
and  industrious.  It  was  these  iron-nerved,  steel-sinewed  stalwarts 
who  formed  a  line  of  mountain  outposts  between  the  older  settle- 
ments of  the  coast  and  the  treacherous  Indian  tribes  of  the  west. 
Not  only  did  they  drive  the  savages  beyond  the  mountains  but  fol- 
lowed them  into  the  plains,  and  broke  for  all  time  the  powerful 
confederacy.  It  was  also  these  who,  in  that  memorable  battle  of 
King's  Mountain,  turned  the  tide  of  the  Revolution.  They  repre- 
sent to-day  a  reserve  force  in  the  nation  whose  vitalizing  lines  are 
found  to  connect  with  all  the  throbbing  centres  of  educational,  com- 
mercial, and  political  activity. 

For  the  sake  of  comparison,  let  us  question  briefly  why  the  social 

*  See  Chapter  on  Population. 


12     Geographic  Influence  on  the  Economic  History  of  Virginia. 

and  industrial  life  of  New  England  was  so  different  from  that  of 
Virginia. 

In  1614  Captain  John  Smith  made  a  trading  expedition  to  that 
territory,  at  which  time  he  changed  the  name  from  North  Virginia 
to  New  England.  Although  his  sojourn  was  ostensibly  for  pur- 
poses of  trade,  on  his  return  to  England  he  left  Captain  Thomas 
Hunt  in  charge  of  one  vessel,  presumably  to  establish  a  footing, 
looking  toward  a  permanent  settlement ;  but  Hunt  enticed  2^  Indians 
on  board  and  sailed  with  them  to  Malaga,  where  he  sold  them  to  the 
Spanish  at  20  pounds  per  head.  This  so  enraged  the  Indians  that 
they  resented  every  effort  toward  colonization  with  great  vigour  and 
extreme  ferocity.  If  there  is  anything  which  will  put  a  people  on 
their  mettle  "to  do  or  die,"  it  is  an  experience  of  exile  for  religious 
convictions;  so  the  Puritans,  many  of  whom  had  taken  refuge  in 
Holland  before  the  intolerable  attitude  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  were 
best  prepared  to  drive  the  wedge.  It  was  a  congregation  of  Inde- 
pendents or  Brownists,  the  strictest  sect  of  the  Puritans,  that  landed 
from  the  Mayflower  December  nth,  1620,  and  others  followed  in 
rapid  succession.  The  first  colonists  were  as  a  rule  poor,  not  hav- 
ing had  the  opportunity  to  accumulate,  and  the  wealthier  and  more 
tractable  Dissenters  remained  in  England  until  the  venture  was 
tested.  Those  who  came  sought  freedom  above  everything  else,  and 
expected  to  pay  the  price  in  unrelenting  toil.  The  conditions  placed 
upon  them  a  strong  community  of  interest,  which  had  been  growing 
since  the  foundation  of  Protestantism.  They  were  thoughtful, 
sober,  and  economical.  Being  parties  to  a  common  cause  and  par- 
ticipants, in  a  common  lot,  they  became  naturally  characterized  by 
unanimity  and  equipoise.  Life  to  them  had  been  a  severe  drill  in 
meeting  the  emergency,  which  developed  the  genius  of  invention, 
and  prepared  them  in  all  respects  for  distinction  along  the  lines 
which  were  pursued  later  so  successfully. 

The  soil  was  not  fertile  and  slave  labour  proved  unprofitable. 
The  South  needed  labourers  and  purchased  them.  English  vessels 
were  monopolizing  southern  traffic,  so  New  England  naturally  de- 
cided to  build  ships  and  participate  in  the  profits.  As  carriers,  the 
opportunity  of  brokerage  presented  itself,  and  they  shared  in  the  pro- 
fits of  sale  and  distribution.  New  trading  enterprises  were  contagi- 
ous, and  the  business  expanded  with  the  traffic.  The  Revolution  came, 
the  conclusion  of  which  ruled  England  out  as  neither  a  desirable 
competitor  in  transportation  nor  in  the  traffic  of  slaves  and  mer- 
chandise. New  England  stood  ready  to  enter  upon  her  new  era  of 
prosperity.     It  is  true  that  the  moral  reaction  against  slave  owner- 


Geographic  Influence  on  the  Economic  History  of  Virginia.     IB 

ship  had  already  become  strong,  but  an  earnest  plea  was  made  for 
the  trade  to  tide  her  over  the  financial  stress.  This  granted,  her 
profits  grew  into  a  large  surplus.  Since  the  importation  of  slaves 
could  continue  no  longer  than  1808,  the  traders  of  New  England 
were  naturally  on  the  lookout  for  investment  opportunities,  for  the 
finding  of  which  their  extensive  transportation  and  trade  relations 
offered  the  best  opportunity.  They  studied  the  methods  by  which 
England  was  growing  rich.  The  manufacture  of  clothing  consti- 
tuted one  of  her  most  profitable  industries,  and  Whitney's  discovery 
of  the  cotton-giA,  which  revolutionized  the  production  of  cotton  in 
the  South,  was  New  England's  opportunity  for  the  establishment 
of  the  American  textile  industry  on  even  a  more  profitable  basis  than 
the  English  system.  The  manufacturing  interests  prospered,  and 
the  shipping  interests  suffered  no  loss,  as  the  South  became  a  large 
exporter  of  cotton.  We  conclude  from  this  brief  review  that, 
just  as  the^ South  from  the  very  beginning  of  her  history  naturally 
developed  along  agricultural  lines,  so  New  England,  finding  herself 
at  a  disadvantage  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  naturally  turned  her 
attention  to  manufacture,  trade  and  commerce. 


or 


PHYSIOGRAPHY  OF  VIRGINIA 

BY 

G.  T.  SURFACE,  M.S. 


The  surface  features  are  so  closely  connected  with  the  geological 
history,  and  this  in  turn  is  so  important  in  the  determination  of 
economic  control,  that  we  will  discuss  the  .physiographic  phase  from 
the  view-point  of  geologic  grouping  and  sequence.  It  is  our  purpose 
to  give  the  reader  a  consistent  portrayal  of  the  Virginia  land-mass 
at  logical  intervals  during  its  physiographic  evolution.  The  conclu- 
sions arrived  at  are  based  upon  the  most  accurate  information  obtain- 
able, in  the  absence  of  a  complete  topographic  or  physiographic  sur- 
vey of  the  State.  As  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  origin  the  land- 
mass  divides  itself  into  two  majo-  divisions:  L  Appalachian  Belt; 
and,  IL  Coastal  Plain  Belt. 

Appalachian  Belt. — The  classification  recognized  under  this 
division  is  somewhat  arbitrary,  but  we  believe  it  is  entirely  in  har- 
mony with  the  similarity  and  continuity  of  geographic  control,  which 
centred  about  the  original  Atlantic  land-mass  until  towards  the 
close  of  the  Mesozoic  era. 

(A).  Archaean  system  of  the  Archaean  period. 
(B).  Taconic  system  of  the  Middle  Silurian  period. 
(C).  Appalachian  system  of  the  post-Carboniferous  period. 
(D).  Palisade  system  of  the  Jurassic  period. 

A.  The  Archaean  System. 

This  represents  the  older  Appalachian  belt,  or  the  Appalachian 
protaxis,  which  extends  in  a  narrow  peninsular  band  from  Canada 
to  central  Georgia.  It  is  continuous  through  Virginia,  and  the 
present  exposure  varies  in,  width  from  lo  to  40  miles.  It  is  probable 
that  the  materials  of  the  Taconic  and  Palisade  systems  were  de- 
posited in  valleys  and  bays  which  had  been  carved  out  of  the  Arch- 
aean land-mass,  or  in  synclinal  troughs  formed  therein  by  elevation 
and  depression.    This  would  indicate  that  the  area  extended  farther 


2  Physiography  of  Virginia. 

eastward  at  the  close  of  the  period.  The  enormous  amount  of  ma- 
terial supplied  for  the  formation  of  the  Appalachian  system  adds 
evidence  to  the  same  conclusion.  We  can  form  no  estimate  of  the 
height  of  the  land-mass,  but  all  of  the  conditions  lead  to  the  belief 
that  it  was  thoroughly  mountainous  in  type,  and  probably  varied 
from  5,cx)0  to  25,000  feet  in  elevation.  Even  with  this  estimate,  we 
must  suppose  it  to  have  been  a  region  of  elevation  during  a  part 
of  the  Paleozoic  era  to  account  for  the  immense  sedimentary  de- 
posits of  the  Appalachian  system.  The  region  suffered  re-elevation 
during  the  elevation  of  the  Appalachian  system,  as  shown  by  the 
west-northwest  overthrust  of  the  crystalline  beds  on  the  lower  Si- 
lurian beds,  and  the  intense  metamorphism  to  which  the  rocks  have 
been  subjected.  Since  the  thrust  force  which  produced  the  newer 
Appalachians  was  from  the  southwest,  the  effect  on  the  Archaean 
area  must  have  been  to  increase  the  area  along  the  western  border 
and  to  make  the  topography  more  precipitous  along  the  western 
flank  of  what  might  be  designated  the  Piedmont  Chain.  The  Arch- 
aean area  was  of  sufficient  elevation  in  post- Paleozoic  time  to  effect- 
ually cut  off  the  new  Appalachian  region  from  an  eastward  drain- 
age. The  region  varies  in  elevation  from  300  to  1,200  feet,  increas- 
ing in  general  as  we  progress  westward.  The  drainage  is  entirely 
into  the  Atlantic,  and  has  a  uniformly  southeast  direction.  The 
Potomac,  Rappahannock,  York,  James,  and  Roanoke  Rivers  are  the 
most  important  streams.  They  are  transverse,  in  that  they  flow  at 
angles  to  the  direction  of  strike  of  the  intricately  folded  and  foliated 
structure;  and  they  are  antecedent,  in  that  their  position  was  fixed 
prior  to  the  rejuvenation  of  the  old  topography. 

The  watersheds  between  the  drainage  systems  are  indistinct,  which 
is  characteristic  of  a  region  which  has  reached  advanced  maturity. 

The  valleys  are  usually  narrow  but  productive,  and  the  interven- 
ing ridges  vary  in  productivity  according  to  the  conditions  of  pre- 
vious cultivation,  the  nature  of  the  underlying  rock,  and  the  degree 
of  decomposition.  The  percentage  of  iron  present  is  greatest  along 
the  western  border. 

Large  beds  of  iron  ore  occur  in  the  Archaean  series.  The  rocks  con- 
sist chiefly  of  granites,  gneisses,  syenites,  diorites,gabbros, and  various 
schists,  and  cover  most  of  the  region  known  as  the  Piedmont  Plateau, 
which  extends  from  the  Fall  Line  (where  the  rivers  emerge  from  the 
harder  rocks  of  the  inland  on  to  the  Coastal  Plain)  to  the  slope  and 
crest  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  These  crystalline  and  metamorphosed 
rocks  are  believed  to  represent  a  part  of  the  original  crust  of  the 
earth,  and  to  have  been  first  elevated  by  the  unequal  contraction  of 


Physiography  of  Virginia.  3 

the  outer  cooling  crust  on  the  inner  molten  mass.  Most  of  the  rocks 
weather  easily  by  the  decomposition  of  the  iron,  alkalis  and  phos- 
phates, which,  when  entirely  removed,  leave  a  light  sterile  micaceous 
or  sandy  soil.  The  percentage  of  these  elements  left  largely  de- 
termines the  productivity  of  the  residual  soils,  which  makes  a  chem- 
ical study  of  them  very  necessary  for  the  intelligent  application  of 
fertilizers. 

The  present  Piedmont  topography  is  that  of  a  dissected  plateau 
upland,  the  seaward  remnant  of  a  broad,  gently  rolling  surface, 
which  once  extended  westward  beyond  the  Alleghany  Front,  north- 
ward along  the  Appalachians  into  New  York  and  New  England,  and 
southward  across  the  Cumberland  Plateau  of  Tennessee  to  an  un- 
known distance.  This  peneplain  condition  of  the  Jurassic  period 
was  first  described  and  studied  by  Professor  W.  M.  Davis  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  New  Jersey,  and  was  named  by  him  the  Schooley 
Peneplain.^  Professor  Davis  describes  the  Piedmont  Plateau  in 
its  present  dissected  stage  as  illustrative  of  the  peneplain.  "It  is  a 
peneplain,  not  monotonously  smooth,  but  undulating  in  graceful 
swells,  between  gentle  depressions." — (Davis.)  Mr.  Willis,  of  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey,  in  his  physiographic  study  of  the 
Northern  Appalachians,  gave  the  name  of  Kittatinny  Plain  to  this 
older  base-level  stage,  f 

B.  Taconic  System.     (Middle  Silurian.) 

We  will  see  under  the  discussion  of  the  Appalachian  System  that 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Paleozoic  era  there  was  being  formed  a  great 
geosyncline  along  the  western  border  of  the  Archaean  land-mass. 
There  was  another  geosyncline  being  formed  at  the  same  time  along 
the  eastern  border.  The  indications  are  that  there  was  a  chain  of 
these  depressions,  some  of  which  were  probably  troughs  of  embayed 
synclinal  valleys  within  the  crystalline  area.  They  were  closely 
parallel  to  the  Archaean  protaxis  and  the  Appalachian  geosyncline, 
and  extended  from  the  region  which  marks  the  boundary  between 
Canada,  New  England  and  New  York,  through  Pennsylvania,  Mary- 
land and  Virginia,  and  south-westward.  These  deposits  thickened 
in  the  gradually  sinking  trough  through  the  Cambrian  and  Ordo- 
vician  periods,  and  at  the  close  of  the  latter  period  were  elevated 
into  what  has  been  called  the  Taconic  System.  The  upturning  re- 
sulted in  great  flexures  and  faults,  and  extreme  metamorphism.  The 
rocks  present  the  same  general  characteristics  as  the  Cambrian  anr- 

*  Davis,  W.  M.,  "The  Rivers  of  Northern  New  Jersey."  National  Geographic  Magazine,  1890, 
vol.  II.,  pp.  81-110. 

t  Bailey  Willis— Physiography  of  the  United  States,  p.  189. 


4  Physiography  of  Virginia. 

Ordovician  rocks  of  the  Appalachian  system,  with  the  addition  that 
the  shales,  sandstones  and  limestones  are  highly  metamorphosed. 
The  shales  of  Buckingham  County  have  been  definitely  identified  as 
belonging  to  theTrenton  and  Hudson  epochs,  and  are  a  part  of  the 
Taconic  series.  The  beautiful  mottled  brown  and  reddish  brown 
marbles  of  east  Tennessee  belong  to  the  same  series  (Hawkins  and 
Knox  counties).  It  continued  a  region  of  elevation,  and  therefore 
of  denudation,  through  the  Upper  Silurian,  Devonian,  Carboniferous, 
Triassic  and  Jurassic  periods,  for  no  beds  with  marine  fossils  have 
been  found  over  the  area. 

The  series  has  suffered  greatly  from  decomposition  and  erosion, 
which  were  facilitated  by  the  crushing  and  disruption  of  the  beds 
as  caused  by  the  violent  crustal  movements. 

Great  changes  must  have  been  wrought  in  the  structure  and  sur- 
face features  of  the  Taconic  area  by  the  forces  which  raised  the 
Appalachian  geosyncline  into  the  towering  Appalachian  Chain. 

The  residual  soils  from  the  metamorphosed  limestones  are  the 
most  productive  which  occur  in  this  belt.  The  shales  and.  slates 
give  rise  to  soils  that  are  responsive  to  fertilizers  and  improved 
cultivation. 

The  streams  cut  across  the  strata  as  in  the  case  of  the  crystalline 
series  of  the  Archaean  system. 

C.  Appalachian  System. 

Throughout  the  long  Paleozoic  era  the  material  for  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Appalachian  system  was  in  process  of  formation,  at  the 
expense  of  the  surrounding  crystalline  area.  These  sediments  were 
deposited  in  a  great  geosynclinal  trough,  in  which  the  rate  of  sub- 
sidence was  so  nearly  equal  to  the  rate  of  deposition  that  almost  the 
entire  thickness  was  accumulated  in  shallow  water.  At  the  close 
of  the  era  the  crustal  movements  began,  through  which  the  strata 
were  elevated  and  compressed  into  a  series  of  parallel,  inclined  or 
overturned  folds,  with  an  elevation  of  20,000  to  40,000  feet.  In 
some  places  the  overturned  folds  pass  into  overthrust  faults.  One 
of  these  in  the  southern  Appalachians  of  Virginia  represents  a  dis- 
location of  5,000  to  10,000  feet,  by  which  the  Lower  Silurian  lime- 
stone is  brought  in  juxtaposition  with  the  Lower  Carboniferous  sand- 
stone. This  fault  so  weakened  the  strata  through  crushing  and  dis- 
ruption as  to  invite  maximum  erosion  and  decomposition,  result- 
ing in  the  removal  of  all  the  strata  above  the  Silurian.  H.  B.  Rogers 
pointed  out  that  the  lines  of  faults  in  Virginia  are  continuous  with 


Physiography  of  Virginia.  5 

the  flexures  in  Pennsylvania.  The  faults  may  therefore  be  designated 
as  Hexure  faults.  The  structure  of  the  Appalachians  closely  re- 
sembles that  of  the  Alps.  The  thrust  force,  however,  in  the  case 
of  the  Alps  was  toward  the  ocean,  while  that  of  the  Appalachians 
was  from  the  ocean.  The  pressure,  being  greatest  from  the  ocean 
side,  gave  rise  to  asymmetrical  and  inverted  folds,  and  the  mountain 
ranges  decline  into  an  elevated  plateau  on  the  landward  side,  with 
feebly  undulating  or  horizontal  stratification.  This  is  exemplified 
in  the  West  Virginia  Highland  and  the  Cumberland  Plateau  of 
Tennessee.  This  high  mountain  region  was  worn  down  to  an  un- 
dulating plain  (Schooley  or  Kittatinny  peneplain)  during  the  Trias- 
sic  and  Jurassic  periods,  with  surviving  ridges  here  and  there  of  more 
resistant  structure. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  Jurassic  period  the  region  was  sub- 
jected to  a  moderate  and  gradual  re-elevation,  attaining  a  maximum 
in  Virginia  of  1,400  feet  (Willis).  The  arch-lines  follow  the  gen- 
eral strike  direction  of  the  Appalachian  folds.  This  period  of  ele- 
vation rejuvenated  the  streams  on  the  uplifted  plain,  making  the 
valleys  deepest  where  the  elevation  was  greatest,  and  most  shallow 
where  the  uplift  was  least.  A  revolution  of  the  drainage  system 
was  initiated  over  a  part  of  the  region  in  the  denudation  attack  along 
the  lines  of  induced  weakness.  The  change  was  greatest  over  the 
Appalachian  region  proper,  since  most  of  the  dynamical  agencies 
work  more  effectively  on  sedimentary  rock  structure.  The  excava- 
tion of  the  valleys  along  the  belts  of  weaker  structure  has  resulted 
in  a  physiography  more  nearly  approaching  the  mountain  type  than 
existed  at  the  close  of  the  re-elevation  of  the  region.  Most  of  the 
remnant  ranges  and  the  intervening  valleys  are  the  result  of  cir- 
cum-denudation,  the  height  of  the  ridges  and  the  width  of  the  val- 
leys being  the  expression  of  the  relative  strength  of  the  strata,  and 
the  amount  of  subsequent  elevation.  The  transverse  streams  are 
contemporaneous  with  the  larger  longitudinal  ones,  but  have  only 
been  able  to  carve  out  for  themselves  narrow  valleys  or  precipitous 
gorges.  From  the  standpoint  of  soil  production  they  have  added 
but  little;  but  their  economic  value  cannot  be  overestimated,  since 
they  have  established  natural  locations  for  the  great  transportation 
routes  across  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  and  present  ideal  conditions 
for  the  most  economic  utilization  of  their  superior  water  power. 

The  Appalachian  anticlinorium  has  lost  its  physiographic  identity, 
but  it  is  readily  revealed  in  a  study  of  the  structure  as  exposed  by 
the  stream  dissection  and  surface  denudation. 

That  part  of  the  Appalachian  System  draining  into  the  Atlantic 


6  Physiography  of  Virginia. 

Ocean  is  known  as  the  Northern  Appalachian,  while  the  part  south 
of  New  River,  draining  into  the  Gulf,  is  the  Southern  Appalachian. 
The  following  subdivisions  of  the  system  are  readily  recognized 
in  a  topographic  study:  (i)  Blue  Ridge;  (2)  Valley;  and  (3) 
Appalachia. 

(i)  Blue  Ridge.  This  stands  out  as  the  most  prominent  physical 
feature  in  the  State.  With  an  elevation  of  1,460  feet  at  Harper's 
Ferry,  where  the  Potomac  breaks  through  the  Blue  Ridge,  it  in- 
creases southwestward,  being  3,993  feet  in  Bedford  County  (Peaks 
of  Otter),  and  reaches  a  maximum  of  5,700  feet  in  Balsam  Moun- 
tain, Grayson  County,  Virginia.  This  is  a  continuous  barrier  from 
the  Maryland  to  the  North  Carolina  boundaries,  excepting  four 
water-gaps  and  occasional  wind-gaps.  In  its  higher  altitudes  the 
crest  line  is  marked  by  a  hard,  resistant  sandstone  of  the  Lower  Cam- 
brian period.  The  southern  portion  expands  into  a  fan-like  plateau, 
which  is  the  watershed  for  the  waters  flowing  into  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  counties  of  Floyd,  Carrol, 
Grayson,  Franklin,  and  a  part  of  Montgomery  are  situated  in  the 
plateau  portion.  In  North  Carolina  the  plateau  topography  is  inten- 
sified, and  the  elevation  increases  to  a  maximum  of  7,000  feet. 

The  eastern  flank  of  the  Blue  Ridge  consists  for  the  most  part  of 
highly  metamorphosed  Archaean  rocks  which  formed  the  Paleozoic 
shore  of  the  interior  sea,  and  were  thrust  up  by  the  great  forces 
which  gave  birth  to  the  Appalachian  System.  Along  the  crest,  the 
western  flank,  and  the  western  foot-hills,  the  Cambrian  rocks  pre- 
dominate. Well-identified  fossiliferous  shales  of  the  Lower  and 
Middle  Cambrian  occur  near  Natural  Bridge,  and  at  Balcony  Falls 
(James  River  gorge  through  the  Blue  Ridge  at  Balcony  Falls). 
So  far  as  developed  for  minerals,  this  is.  the  most  unproductive 
region  in  the  State. 

(2)  The  Valley.  This  is  a  continuation  of  the  Great  Valley  of 
east  Tennessee,  and  becomes  the  Cumberland  Valley  in  Maryland 
and  Pennsylvania,  the  Kittatinny  Valley  of  New  Jersey,  and  the 
Newburg  part  of  the  Hudson  River  Valley  in  New  York.  It  is 
the  central  part  of  the  Greater  Appalachian  Valley,  as  described  by 
Willis,  which  includes  the  Blue  Ridge,  the  Valley,  and  the  Alle- 
ghany Ridges.  The  Valley  region  is  that  which  lies  between  the 
western  base  of  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the  eastern  base  of  the  Alle- 
ghany Front.  It  is  15  to  30  miles  in  width,  and  310  miles  in  length, 
making  an  area  of  about  5,000  square  miles.  It  consists  of  the 
following  minor  valleys :  The  Shenandoah,  106  miles ;  James  River, 
50  miles ;  Roanoke  River,   38  miles ;   New  River,   54  miles ;  and 


Physiography  of  Virginia.  7 

Holston  River,  52  miles.  For  the  purposes  of  convenience  we  may 
recognize  three  general  sections :  The  northern,  or  Shenandoah  Val- 
ley section;  the  central,  embracing  that  region  between  the  head- 
waters of  the  Shenandoah  and  the  Holston  Rivers,  which  is  cut  by 
the  transverse  valleys  of  the  James,  Roanoke  and  New  Rivers;  and 
the  southern  section,  that  part  drained  by  the  Holston  River. 

Viewed  topographically,  it  is  a  broad,  gently  rolling  plain,  with 
the  floor  dissected  by  minor  drainage  systems.  The  elevation  in- 
creases south-westward  and  westward,  being  242  feet  above  tide 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Shenandoah,  and  1,687  f^^t  where  the  Holston 
River  crosses  the  State  line.  The  maximum  elevation  of  1,700  feet 
is_  reached  in  Wythe  County.  The  Shenandoah  Plain  was  carved 
out  of  the  Schooley  Peneplain  during  the  Tertiary  period,  and  the 
subsequent  elevation  and  denudation  have  brought  it  to  its  present 
topographic  condition. 

The  soil  of  the  valley  is  prevailingly  limestone,  and  it  is  by  far 
the  most  productive  of  the  natural  divisions.  George  Washington"" 
realized  its  great  possibilities  when  he  wrote:  'Tn  soil,  climate  and 
production,  in  my  opinion,  it  will  be  considered,  if  it  is  not  con- 
sidered so  already,  as  the  Garden  of  America." 

There  is  no  marked  decrease  of  fertility  as  we  pass  from  the 
bottoms  to  the  uplands.  The  bottoms  are  utilized  intensively  and 
extensively  for  cultivation,  and  the  uplands  for  grazing. 

Settlements  were  made  in  the  region  as  early  as  1732.  Several 
of  the  earlier  ones  were  exterminated,  but  the  natural  conditions 
were  so  favourable  that  each  depredation  by  the  Indians  inspired 
the  settlers  to  stronger  and  more  persistent  resistance. 

The  position  of  the  Valley  topographically  marks  it  out  as  a 
natural  transportation  route,  so  we  find  the  Norfolk  and  Western 
Railroad  traversing  it  from  Bristol,  which  is  on  the  Virginia-Ten- 
nessee line,  to  Roanoke;  from  this  point  the  Shenandoah  Valley 
extends  to  Harper's  Ferry,  on  the  Virginia- West  Virginia-Mary- 
land line. 

(3)  Appalachia,  or  Alleghany  Ridges.  This  area  embraces  the 
region  between  the  Valley  and  the  Alleghany  Front,  which  is  the 
eastern  border  of  the  Alleghany  Plateau,  and  is  made  of  a  series  of 
ridges  of  northeast-southwest  direction,  alternating  with  narrow 
trough-like  valleys.  This  general  topography  is  interrupted  where 
intersected  by  the  transverse  valleys,  previously  referred  to.  An  ex- 
amination of  the  ridges  shows  a  remarkably  accordant  topography. 
They  are  believed  to  be  the  remnant  of  a  plain  of  advanced  topo- 

*  Letter  to  Sir  John  Sinclair,  1796. 


8  Physiography  of  Virginia. 

graphic  maturity  formed  during  the  Mesozoic  era,  which  was 
continuous  from  Piedmont  to  the  Alleghany  Plateau,  called  by  Davis 
the  Schooley  Peneplain,  and  by  Willis  the  Kittatinny  Peneplain. 
The  region  under  discussion  has  been  reduced  to  its  present  topo- 
graphic condition  since  the  Jurassic  period  by  denudation  and  periods 
of  elevation. 

The  ridges  owe  their  elevation  chiefly  to  the  fact  that  the  Car- 
boniferous conglomerates  and  sandstones  were  depressed  below  the 
general  level  of  the  Kittatinny  Peneplain,  and  thus  escaped  being 
worn  away  during  the  production  of  that  feature.  Subsequent 
elevation  and  denudation  have  removed  the  weakened  anticlinal 
rocks,  and  left  the  synclinal  remnants  of  hard  sandstone  standing 
out  in  relief,  as  protecting  caps  to  the  softer  strata  beneath. 

Like  the  land  of  the  Valley,  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the  Alleghany 
Front,  these  ridges  increase  in  general  elevation  southward.  Many 
of  them  exceed  3,000  feet.  Elliot's  Knob,  20  miles  west  of  Staun- 
ton, has  an  elevation  of  4,473  feet. 

The  Appalachia  and  Valley  topography  of  southwest  Virginia 
has  been  materially  influenced  by  a  series  of  faults  which  produced 
a  displacement  of  500  to  12,000  feet.  The  most  important  we  may 
designate  the  Saltville  or  North  Holston  fault,  with  a  maximum  dis- 
placement of  10,000  feet ;  the  Walker  Mountain  fault,  with  a  max- 
imum displacement  of  about  10,000  feet,  and  seemingly  continuous 
with  the  Great  Fault  of  Northern  Virginia;  and  Draper  Mountain 
fault,  which  by  a  maximum  displacement  of  12,500  feet  brings  up 
the  Lower  Silurian  in  Wythe  and  Pulaski  County  as  a  rugged  moun- 
tain in  the  heart  of  the  Valley.  Two  cross-faults  pass  frorn  it,  the 
Max  Meadows  in  a  westward  direction,  and  the  Pulaski  in  a  north- 
western direction,  toward  the  Walker  Mountain  fault;  so  that  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  Valley  there  is  a  block  of  Upper  Silurian, 
Devonian  and  Lower  Carboniferous,  with  Lower  Silurian  on  two 
sides,  Cambrian  on  the  third,  and  Lower  Carboniferous  on  the 
fourth.* 

The  soils  of  the  upper  slopes  are  usually  sandy  and  sterile,  be- 
ing derived  from  the  heavy  siliceous  sandstones  and  conglomerates. 
Beneath  these  strata  occur  the  softer  shales,  some  of  which  (the 
most  calcareous)  form  fairly  productive  soils.  The  residual  soils 
from  limestone  are  always  fertile,  but  most  of  the  limestone  strata 
have  been  removed  by  denudation. 

Because  of  the  very  broken  topography  common  to  the  region, 
it  is  best  adapted  to  grazing.     The  narrow  valleys  are  made  up  of 

*  American  Journal  of  Science,  1887,  p.  262. 


Physiography  of  Virginia.  9 

sandy  calcareous  alluvium,  with  often  a  strong  impregnation  of 
iron,  and  are  productive.  Cultivation  is  concentrated  on  the  valleys 
and  lowlands. 

More  virgin  forest  survives  in  this  belt  than  in  any  other  part 
of  the  State,  because  of  its  inaccessibility.  With  the  superior  water 
power,  which  abounds  throughout  the  region,  the  manufacture  of 
hardwood  products  should  become  an  important  industry. 

This  is  the  most  productive  region  of  the  State  in  mineral  re- 
sources. 

The  bold  south-eastward-facing  escarpment  of  the  Alleghany 
Plateau  border  constitutes  the  western  border  of  the  Alleghany 
trough.  The  State  line  is  approximately  marked  by  it,  except  in  the 
southwest  corner. 

From  Little  High  Knob  (26  miles  south  of  the  Potomac  in  the 
Virginia- West  Virginia  boundary)  south  westward  it  declines  in 
elevation. 

New  River,  flowing  north-westward,  enters  the  plateau  in  a  cafion 
1,500  feet  deep.  All  the  other  streams  crossing  the  Front  rise  in 
the  plateau  and  flow  southwestward,  to  emerge  from  deep  canons 
into  the  minor  valleys  of  the  Great  Valley.  This  peculiar  drainage 
adjustment  was  brought  about  by  a  southeastward  tilting  of  the 
northern  part  of  the  plateau  in  the  elevation  subsequent  to  the 
Schooley  Peneplain  stage,  while  south  of  the  New  River  divide 
the  tilting  was  to  the  southwest.'"^ 

D.  Palisade  System.   (Jurassic  Period.) 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Triassic  period  it  is  probable  that  the  Vir- 
ginia land  area  extended  farther  east  than  it  does  at  this  time.  During 
this  period  a  series  of  narrow  troughs  was  formed  along  the  Atlantic 
slope,  closely  parallel  to  the  trend  of  the  Appalachians,  as  if  occupy- 
ing orographic  valleys  in  the  chain ;  but  separated  from  them  by  the 
remnant  ridges,  which  were  still  sufficiently  high  to  effectually  cut 
off  the  Appalachian  drainage  from  the  east.  The  depressions  could 
not  have  been  formed  from  an  oceanic  submergence,  for  no  marine 
fossils  have  been  found  in  the  beds ;  neither  could  they  have  resulted 
from  stream  action  alone,  or  the  nature  of  the  rock  structure  would 
be  different.  The  most  probable  supposition,  therefore,  is  that  the 
depressions  represent  the  topography  of  the  continental  border  after 
the  Appalachian  upturning.  The  water  accumulated  in  these  de- 
pressions in  estuaries,  fresh-water  lakes,  streams,  bogs  and  swamps, 
and  the  depositions  took  place  slowly  and  to  great  depth.     The  rocks 

*  Russell,  I.  C,  Rivers  of  North  America,  p.  205. 


10  Physiography  of  Virginia. 

are  mostly  granitic  sandstones,  sandy  shales,  conglomerates,  bitu- 
minous coal,  along  with  carbonaceous  shales.  The  extent  of  the 
conglomerate  formation  and  the  prevalence  of  the  cross-bedded 
structure  give  evidence  of  the  presence  of  strong  currents. 

The  longest  trough  seems  to  have  been  continuous  from  the  Hud- 
son River  south  through  New  Jersey  and  Maryland,  and  into  Vir- 
ginia as  far  as  Cumberland  County,  a  distance  of  350  miles.  It  is 
probable  that  the  Richmond  area  was  a  separate  basin,  35  miles  in 
length;  and  that  the  Pittsylvania  area  belongs  to  the  Dan  River 
trough  of  North  Carolina,  100  miles  in  length  (40  miles  in  North 
Carolina).  The  thickness  of  the  beds  in  Virginia  varies  from  2,000 
to  3,000  feet. 

Productive  coal  beds  occur  in  the  Richmond*  basin  south  of  the 
Chickahominy  River,  being  northwest  of  the  city  of  Richmond, 
and  separated  from  the  northern  part  of  the  Richmond  Mesozoic 
area  by  an  interval  of  crystalline  rocks  about  3  miles  in  width.  This 
is  the  only  Mesozoic  area  in  Virginia  which  retains  the  basin  form 
in  its  present  structural  condition. 

The  lateral  pressure  whch  caused  the  elevation  of  the  series  was 
chiefly  from  the  west,  while  that  for  the  Appalachian  system  was 
chiefly  from  the  east.  The  elevation  took  place  at  the  close  of  the 
Triassic  or  in  the  early  Jurassic  period.  Faults  are  frequent,  and 
volcanic  action  became  general,  as  shown  by  the  numerous  dykes 
which  cut  the  series. 

The  crustal  movements,  however,  over  most  of  the  region  resulted 
in  monoclinal  uplifts  of  low  angle.  Flexures  are  rare  and  local, 
the  largest  being  that  of  the  Richmond  Basin. 

The  Jurassic  period  was  one  of  great  denudation,  when  the  high 
ranges  of  the  Appalachians  were  much  wasted  away,  and  the  newly- 
elevated  Triassic  beds  were  deeply  eroded. 

The  brown  sandstone  of  this  series  supplies  one  of  our  most 
valuable  building  stones. 

Coastal  Plain. — At  the  close  of  the  Jurassic  period  there  was 
a  slight  elevation;  but  this  was  of  short  duration,  and  gave  place 
to  a  strong  eastward  tilting  of  the  land,  which  permitted  the  western 
transgression  of  the  Upper  Potomac  formation.^  The  Potomac 
series  was  formerly  classified  as  Lower  Cretaceous  by  DavisJ  and 
others,  but  the  very  careful  stratigraphic  work  of  the  Maryland 

*U.  S.  G.  S.  Bull.  No.  85,  1892  ;  American  Journal  of  Science,  1879. 
+  Physiography  of  Maryland,  Part  II  ,  p.  144. 

$The  Geological  Dates  of  Origin  of  Certain  Topographic  Forms.  Geol.  Society  America, 
Bull.  II.  1890,  pp.  545-548. 


Physiography  of  Virginia.  1 1 

Geological  Survey  has  led  to  the  classification  of  the  lower  beds  of 
the  series  to  the  Jurassic.  The  Coastal  Plain  Series  begins  with  the 
Potomac  Group*,  which  were  formed  in  a  narrow  band  along  the 
Atlantic  Coast.  Detached  portions  of  the  beds  indicate  that  they 
formerly  extended  farther  westward.  The  different  members  of  the 
Coastal  Plain  series  were  formed  by  alternate  periods  of  elevation 
and  depression.  It  is  beyond  the  province  of  this  discussion  to  enter 
into  a  detailed  description  of  the  geological  history. 

The  series  consists  of  sands,  clays,  loams  and  "gravels,  usually  in 
the  unconsolidated  state,  and  arranged  almost  horizontally. 

The  Tertiary  period  was  inaugurated  by  an  encroachment  of  the 
sea,  and  the  Eocene  deposits  of  sands  and  clays  formed  in  a  narrow 
band  through  New  Jersey,  Maryland  and  Virginia.  From  Virginia 
southward  the  deposits  become  much  broader.  The  crustal  move- 
ments which  closed  the  period  were  greater  from  south  to  north  and 
from  east  to  west,  giving  a  southeast  tilting.  This  is  true  for  the 
whole  Coastal  Plain  series,  as  evidenced  by  the  thickness  of  the  beds, 
and  the  resulting  topography.  One  of  the  salient  topographic  evi- 
dences is  the  increase  in  the  southeastward  deflection  of  the  streams 
along  the  western  border  of  the   Coastal   Plain    (along  the  ''Fall 

Line"). 

The  early  Miocene  witnessed  a  slight  transgression  of  the  sea,  as 
a  result  of  which  the  Upper  Miocene  beds  were  deposited  on  the 
Lower  Eocene.  By  the  close  of  the  period  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf 
shores  had  attained  almost  their  present  outline. 

A  broad  belt,  extending  from  the  Piedmont  margin  to  the  centre  of 
the  Coastal  Plain,  is  covered  by  a  mantle  of  Lafayette  (Pliocene)  de- 
posits in  the  interstream  area.  These  consist  of  clay,  loam,  sand  and 
gravel,  the  latter  being  often  ferruginous  and  cemented  into  a  com- 
pact ironstone.  The  formation  has  an  average  thickness  of  about 
50  feet. 

With  the  close  of  the  Tertiary  the  Atlantic  Coast  was  raised  about 
100  feet  in  the  Virginia  portion.  On  passing  from  Piedmont  to  the 
Coastal  Plain,  the  stream  character  changes  abruptly  from  rapids, 
falls,  and  steep  gorges,  to  meandering  streams  over  a  terrace-bound 
lowland.  The  terraces  were  formed  by  the  flood-plain  condition  ex- 
isting during  the  Pleistocene  period. 

The  great  number  of  bays  and  estuaries  are  of  comparatively 
recent  origin,  having  been  formed  by  the  gradual  subsidence  of  the 
Coastal  Plain  region,  by  which  the  rivers  were  drowned  in  their 
lower  course  through  the  transgression  of  the  ocean.    The  Susque- 

*  Physiography  of  Maryland,  II,  p.  121. 


12  Physiography  of  Virginia. 

hanna  River  formerly  entered  the  ocean  east  of  Cape  Henry,  and  the 
Potomac,  James,  York  and  Rappahannock  were  its  important  tribu- 
taries. The  continued  depression  converted  the  lower  Susquehanna 
Valley  into  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  embayed  the  mouths  of  the  lower 
tributaries,  making  them  tidal  streams.  Accomac  and  Northampton 
Counties  became  thereby  separated  from  the  mainland. 

The  effect  was  to  make  all  of  the  important  streams  navigable  in 
the  Coastal  Plain  part  of  their  course,  and  it  gave  to  the  State  in  the 
formation  of  Hampton  Roads  (estuary  at  the  mouth  of  the  James 
River)  the  finest  American  harbour. 

The  elevation  increases  from  sea-level  to  150  feet  on  the  western 
border.  From  the  surface  configuration  the  land  is  commonly  desig- 
nated as  first  and  second  bottom,  and  the  ridge  country.  The  first 
bottom,  where  protected  from  the  tide,  is  very  productive.  It  is  in 
this  portion  that  most  of  the  swamp  and  marsh  lands  occur,  all  of 
which  are  covered  with  a  variety  of  swamp  and  marsh  grasses,  which 
are  partially  utilized  for  grazing.  Wherever  this  has  been  reclaimed 
it  is  exceedingly  productive.  Dismal  Swamp*  being  the  most  notable 
example.  No  survey  or  special  study  has  been  made  of  these  wild 
lands,  but  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  hundreds  of  square  miles  could 
be  reclaimed  at  a  cost  which  would  leave  a  wide  margin  of  profit. 

The  second  bottom  is  alluvial,  as  the  first,  and  is  the  most  valuable 
part  of  Tidewater.  The  subsoil  is  a  dark  red  or  yellow  clay,  with  a 
moderate  admixture  of  sand.  The  surface  soils  consist  of  sandy 
loams,  which  vary  in  colour  and  consistency  according  to  the 
mineral  and  vegetable  matter  predominating.  The  ridge  country  has 
an  elevation  of  90  to  150  feet  above  sea-level.  The  soil  is  a  light 
sand,  easily  eroded,  and  intractable  to  most  methods  of  improvement. 
This  section  represents  one  of  the  most  important  economic  problems 
in  the  State.  Calcareous  marls  have  proved  very  beneficial,  and  it  is 
believed  by  some  fertilizer  authorities  that  most  of  the  area  can  be 
brought  into  a  state  of  at  least  fair  productivity. 

Emory  and  Henry  College,  Emory, 
Virginia. 


♦Dismal   Swamp   marks   the  southern  limit  of   the  bog  mosses   (Sphagnei)  which  are  common 
further  north,  and  the  northern  limit  of  the  dwarf  palmetto. 


CLIMATE   AND   BOUNDARIES   OF  VIRGINIA. 

BY 

G.  T.  SURFACE. 

Climate. 

In  speaking  of  the  climate  of  any  region  we  naturally  think  of 
the  weather  conditions  which  prevail  during  the  different  seasons. 
Temperature,  pressure,  humidity,  absorption,  radiation,  winds,  and 
currents  are  the  determinant  factors,  all  of  which  interact  with  in- 
finite variations.  Just  as  the  chemist  and  physicist  are  unable  to 
dissect  and  measure  the  smaller  units  of  physical  substances,  so  the 
climatologist  is  unable  to  measure  the  smaller  units  of  climatic  cause 
and  control.  We  can,  however,  determine  the  larger  units,  and  out 
of  these  construct  logical  groupings.  These,  when  studied  in  re- 
lation to  each  other  at  regular  intervals  through  a  long  period, 
indicate  with  a  fair  degree  of  accuracy  what  may  be  considered  as 
constants  and  variables.  It  is  thus  that  we  arrive  at  the  science  of 
climatology.  It  is  only  within  modern  times  that  it  has  advanced 
to  the  stage  of  becoming  really  an  economic  science,  which  we  are 
conservative  in  saying  is  but  in  its  infancy. 

The  native  wealth  of  any  land  area  is  determined  largely  by  its 
climatic  and  geological  environment.  We  are  justified  in  affirming 
that  Virginia  holds  an  exceptionally  favored  position  as  to  the 
harmony  of  these  two  wealth-determining  factors,  so  that  nothing 
is  lacking,  from  the  standpoint  of  natural  essentials,  for  the  largest 
and  most  economic  development  of  its  resources. 

The  effect  of  climatic  influences  on  the  social  order  is  also  not  to 
be  lost  sight  of,  or  underestimated.  The  leading  psychologists  and 
anthropologists  attribute  the  wide  differentiation  of  races  to  differ- 
ences of  geographic  environment.  Many  of  these  designate  climate 
as  the  controlling  factor.  Whether  this  may,  or  may  not  be  true, 
we  do  know  that  climatic  extremes  do  not  conduce  to  the  most 
efficient  voluntary  activity. 

The  climatic  belts  of  the  State  are  in  general  coincident  with  the 
physical  divisions.  There  are  limited  areas,  which,  by  virtue  of  their 
position,  are  subject  to  more  sudden  changes  and  greater  extremes. 

There  are  no  high  mountain  ranges  in  the  State,  but  the  eleva- 
tion is  continuous  from  the  Eastern  Shore, to  the  Blue  Ridge.  We  see 
in  Table  I  (p.  97)  a  difference  of  10°  in  the  mean  annual  temperature 


2  Climate  and  Boundaries  of  Virginia. 

of  Norfolk  and  Burke's  Garden,  the  latter  being  an  observation  sta- 
tion in  Tazewell  County.  This  difference  would  be  even  greater  but 
for  the  tempering  effect  of  the  warm  waters  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  on 
the  prevailing  southwestern  winds.  The  rainfall  varies  somewhat 
with  the  seasons,  but  the  general  average  for  different  years  shows 
that  no  section  can  be  said  to  be  favoured  above  another.  This  aver- 
age ranges  between  35  and  45  inches.  The  rainfall  of  the  Tidewater 
region  would  be  considerably  heavier  than  in  the  Blue  Ridge,  the 
Valley,  and  the  Appalachia  regions  but  for  the  re-saturation  of  the 
southwestern  winds  as  they  pass  over  the  warm  Gulf  waters.  Killing 
droughts  and  disastrous  weather  changes,  such  as  are  common  to  the 
region  west  of  the  Mississippi  River,  are  unknown.  In  Texas  we 
find  a  maximum  difference  in  the  mean  annual  temperature  of  21.7°, 
and  droughts  are  not  infrequent  in  the  northern  and  western  portions 
of  the  State.  Washington  shows  the  widest  range  in  the  annual 
rainfall,  Clearwater  having  an  average  of  126  inches  and  Mottinger 
Ranch  an  average  of  11  inches. 

The  Alleghany  Highlands,  extending  for  a  distance  of  200  to  500 
miles  west  of  the*  State  boundary,  constitute  an  effectual  barrier 
against  the  storms  which  originate  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  region. 

The  mean  average  annual  temperature  for  the  whole  State  is 
about  56°. 

Tidewater. — The  climate  of  this  coastal  region  has  a  mean  annual 
temperature  of  58°  to  61°,  being  greatly  ameliorated  by  the  warm 
north-west  currents  of  the  Atlantic,  whose  waters  intermingle  off  the 
Florida  coast  with  the  heated  waters  of  the  Gulf  Stream  as  they 
emerge  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  flow  thereafter  as  a  north- 
east current  along  the  eastern  coast  of  the  United  States.  The  soil 
of  this  belt  is  universally  sandy  or  a  sandy  loam  and,  with  a  limited 
rainfall,  or  cold  climate,  would  be  of  little  economic  value.  Having 
an  adequate  rainfall  and  a  warm-temperate  climate,  it  becomes  ideally 
adapted  to  the  profitable  industry  of  trucking,  and  holds  first  rank 
in  this  line  of  production.  Much  of  the  arid  land  of  the  west  has  a 
similar  soil,  and  as  favourable  temperature  requirements,  but  is  prac- 
tically worthless  for  lack  of  rain  supply  or  irrigating  facilities. 

The  average  growing  season*  is  from  7  to  7^  months'  duration. 
The  winters  are  short  and  mild ;  the  snowfall  usually  light ;  and  the 
freezing  never  extreme  or  protracted.  The  summer's  heat  is  so  tem- 
pered by  the  sea-breezes  as  to  seldom  become  oppressive. 

Malaria  was  common  during  the  early  Colonial  days,  but  this  has 
been  largely  exterminated  by  clearing  the  forests,  draining  the  low- 

*  Average  duration  from  the  last  killing  frost  in  the  spring  to  the  first  killing  frost  of  autumn. 


Climate  and  Boundaries  of  Virginia.  3 

lands  and  swamps,  and  the  removal  of  the  residences  to  more  sani- 
tary locations. 

The  mean  annual  temperature  of  the  extreme  southern  Tidewater 
Counties  averages  about  60°.  It  is  in  this  belt  that  cotton  is  grown 
to  a  limited  extent.  The  mean  annual  temperature  decreases  grad- 
ually within  narrow  limits  as  we  pass  northward.  This  results  both 
from  the  more  inland  geographic  position,  and  the  difference  in  lati- 
tude. The  heaviest  rainfall  registered  in  Tidewater  is  in  the  Rich- 
mond, Williamsburg,  Pamunkey  and  Gloucester  Peninsulas,  this  belt 
being  northwest  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay  mouth.  Even  in  the  Virginia 
coast  region  there  is  considerable  seasonal  variation  in  the  amount 
of  precipitation. 

Middle-Piedmont. — The  average  mean  annual  temperature  of  this 
belt  is  56° -58°.  Lynchburg  is  near  the  Middle-Piedmont  boundary 
line,  and  Manassas  is  on  the  line.  In  1900,  the  average  for  Lynch- 
burg was  58.4°,  and  for  Manassas  56.5°  (in  1902  the  average  for 
Lynchburg  was  56.8°,  and  for  Manassas  54.1°).  This  climatic  belt 
marks  the  area  of  the  most  successful  tobacco  culture.  Tobacco  is 
also  cultivated  with  fair  success  in  the  mountain  areas,  with  a  mean 
annual  temperature  as  low  as  52  degrees. 

The  growing  season  of  the  Piedmont  belt  is  2  to  3  weeks  shorter 
than  in  Tidewater. 

There  is  greater  variation  in  the  prevailing  direction  of  winds  in 
this  belt  than  exists  in  any  other  part  of  the  State,  because  of  its  inland 
location  with  reference  to  both  the  mountains  and  the  sea.  The 
autumn  winds  are  prevailingly  northwest,  but  those  of  the  other 
seasons  fluctuate,  the  east  and  north  east  being  most  common  in  the 
spring  and  summer.  The  northwest  autumn  winds  are  usually  dis- 
placed by  western  winds  in  the  early  winter,  which  in  turn  give  way 
to  southwest  winds  before  March. 

Blue  Ridge,  Valley  and  Appalachia. — These  regions  constitute 
the  mountain  district  of  the  State,  in  which  the  climatic  differences 
so  far  as  revealed  by  observation  do  not  justify  a  differentiation. 
The  mean  annual  temperature  of  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the  Valley  is 
52°-56°,  and  that  of  Appalachia  is  48°-54°.  We  may  correctly  desig- 
nate this  as  the  zone  of  grasses,  grains,  and  apples.  The  average 
mean  annual  temperature  not  only  increases  as  we  pass  from  east  to 
west,  but  also  from  north  to  south,  since  the  elevation  gradually  in- 
creases from  the  Potomac  River  southward. 

The  aggregate  precipitation  of  the  mountain  district  does  not 
differ  materially  from  the  Piedmont-Middle  belt,  but  the  proportion 
represented  by  snow  is  much  greater ;  and  the  rains  are  more  frequent 


4  Climate  and  Boundaries  of  Virginia. 

and  of  shorter  duration.  The  rainfall  also  increases  with  the  alti- 
tude up  to  a  variable  limit,  which  is  fixed  by  the  local  conditions. 
The  mountains  not  only  cause  the  condensation  of  the  vapour  brought 
by  the  rain-bearing  winds,  but  prevent  this  supply  of  moisture  from 
being  carried  away  again  by  the  winds  in  dry,  clear  weather.  The 
rainfall  of  the  Valley  is  greatest  along  the  base  of  the  mountains, 
since  the  air,  approaching  the  mountain,  is  forced  to  rise  some  dis- 
tance from  the  barrier.  ]\Iost  of  the  rain  is  supplied  by  the  south- 
east and  southwest  winds,  the  one  directly  off  the  warm  Atlantic 
and  the  other  less  directly  off  the  warmer  Gulf.  Those  from  the 
Gulf  have  been  robbed  of  some  of  their  moisture  by  the  intervening 
land  areas,  but  the  increased  elevation  enables  them  to  draw  more 
effectively  from  the  decreased  supply.  Equalization  of  distribution 
is  established  by  the  eastern  half  of  the  State  having  the  advantage 
of  ocean  proximity,  and  the  western  half  the  greater  elevation. 

The  duration  of  the  growing  season  is  53^  to  6  months  in  the  Blue 
Ridge  and  Valley,  and  an  average  of  2  weeks  less  in  the  Appalachia 
country. 

This  region,  together  with  the  part  of  Piedmont  adjacent  to  the 
Blue  Ridge,  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  apple  culture.  The  most  suc- 
cessful growers  plant  their  orchards  on  the  mountains,  because  the 
valleys  are  not  only  more  subject  to  frost,  but  the  winter  temperature 
is  lower  than  for  the  mountain,  up  to  a  greater  elevation  than  is 
represented  by  the  mountains  of  Virginia.  It  is  for  this  same  reason 
that  the  coffee  plantations  of  Brazil  are  laid  out  on  the  high  ground. 
This  theory  when  first  advocated  was  considered  absurd.  It  is  now 
no  longer  accepted  as  a  theory  but  as  a  fact,  having  been  demon- 
strated by  the  scientists  of  America  and  Europe.  The  explanatory 
cause  is,  the  greater  radiation  in  the  valley.  This  is  not  necessarily 
more  rapid,  but  of  longer  duration.  It  begins  one  to  two  hours 
earlier  in  the  evening,  and  continues  one  to  two  hours  later  in  the 
morning.     The  following  we  quote  from  Julius  Hann:* 

The  Swiss  have  learned  by  experience  that  the  mountain  sides  have  far  more  favourable  tempera- 
ture conditions  in  late  autumn  and  in  winter  than  the  lowlands.  During  one  of  the  calm,  clear  spells  of 
late  autumn  the  traveller  who  spends  a  few  days  at  one  of  these  farm  houses  on  the  steep  mountain  side 
may  there  breathe  air  which  has  the  mildness  of  summer;  he  may  see  the  green  fields  still  decked  with 
autumn  flowers  .  .  .  while  down  below,  in  the  valley,  the  ground  is  already  frozen  hard  by  the  frost,  th»e 
trees  are  lifeless,  and  all  the  activities  of  plant  life  have  long  ceased. 

There  is  a  wide  variation  in  the  snowfall  of  the  State,  both  region- 
ally and  seasonally.  It  is  usually  light  and  of  short  duration  in 
Tidewater  and  Middle  Virginia.  From  the  Blue  Ridge  westward, 
however,  it  is  not  uncommon  for  the  ground  to  be  blanketed  a  period 

*  Handbook  of  Climatology  (Ward's  translation),  p.  264. 


Climate  and  Boundaries  of  Virginia.  5 

of  six  weeks  or  two  months.  This  is  of  great  economic  value  to  the 
grain  and  grass  crops  of  the  region,  protecting  them  not  only  against 
the  intense  cold  of  January  and  February,  but  ameliorating  the  effect 
of  the  thaws  of  occasional  warm  days.  Since  the  region  under  dis- 
cussion includes  most  of  the  large  forested  areas  of  the  State  it  is 
important  that  we  make  a  brief  study  of  the  climatic  effects  of 
forests.  Forests  increase  the  absorption,  and  protect  the  contained 
moisture  from  speedy  evaporation.  This  is  most  in  evidence  during 
a  drought.  When  the  fields  are  parched  and  dusty,  scarcely  showing 
signs  of  life,  the  adjacent  forest  has  a  wealth  of  foliage  and  flower. 
Throughout  the  areas  that  have  been  deforested  during  the  last  half 
century  there  is  a  noticeable  decrease  in  the  size  of  the  streams.  The 
ruins  of  old  mills  still  remain  on  streams  whose  volume  would  now  be 
entirely  inadequate.  The  influence  of  forests  on  the  distribution  of 
water  supply  is  greatest  in  connection  with  the  snows  and  rains  of 
the  winter  season.  By  preventing  the  snows  from  drifting  and  de- 
creasing the  melting,  a  forested  area  thereby  holds  the  water  until  it 
can  be  assimilated  by  percolation  and  absorption.  '  We  do  not  insist 
that  the  aggregate  rainfall  has  been  materially  lessened,  but  that  the 
same  rainfall  in  a  deforested  region  cannot  be  so  thoroughly  assimi- 
lated. If  the  country  is  deforested  the  ground  usually  freezes 
several  inches  before  it  receives  much  snowfall,  and,  in  consequence, 
remains  frozen  to  a  greater  or  less'  extent  until  the  approach  of 
spring.  The  frozen  earth  being  almost  impervious,  causes  the  loss 
of  most  of  the  water  by  surface  drainage.  The  natural  result  is  that 
floods  are  far  more  frequent  in  deforested  regions. 

Forest  soils  have  also  that  constituency  and  protection  which 
appreciably  decreases  radiation.  The  old  settlers  recognized  them 
as  "warm  soils,"  without  having  the  knowledge  of  a  scientific  ex- 
planation. The  inability  to  raise  peaches  in  certain  parts  of  Michi- 
gan with  former  success  has  been  ascribed  by  some  students  of  the 
question  to  the  deforestation  of  the  country. 

General  Remarks. 

The  climate  of  Virginia  is  ideally  adapted  to  successful  agricul- 
ture, since  the  prevailing  conditions  in  the  different  geographic  divi- 
sions are  such  as  are  best  suited  to  the  soils  of  those  regions.  If  the 
Blue  Ridge  and  Tidewater  could  exchange  positions,  Virginia  would 
cease  to  supply  the  eastern  markets  with  early  vegetables,  and,  in- 
stead of  ah  annual  surplus  of  more  than  $10,000,000,  would  be  but 
little   more  than   self-supporting.     Then,   if  Appalachia   could   ex- 


6 


Climate  and  Boundaries  of  Virginia. 


change  places  with  Piedmont,  Virginia  would  cease  to  be  an  import- 
ant tobacco-producing  State,  and  the  net  receipts  from  this  resource 
alone  would  be  decreased  by  at  least  $5,000,000  per  year.  The  rain- 
fall has  the  most  advantageous  monthly  distribution  with  reference 
to  farming  operations  and  the  growth  of  crops,  being  somewhat 
heavier  from  April  to  July,  which  makes  disastrous  droughts  un- 
known. The  growing  season  of  each  section  is  always  long  enough 
to  mature  the  standard  crops  of  that  section. 

In  general  health  fulness,  probably  no  State  in  the  Union  is  more 
favored.  The  coastal  region  is  growing  in  importance  as  a  winter 
resort,  and  the  western  part  of  the  State  has  for  many  years  been  a 
Mecca  for  summer  tourists  who  seek  health  and  comfort.  The 
popular  resorts  are  to  be  found  in  almost  every  county  west  of  the 
Blue  Ridge. 


MEAN    ANNUAL    TEMPERATURE,   RAINP^ALL   AND    SNOWFALL,    AND 
LENGTH    OF    GROWING   SEASON, 
^  1900-1905. 

FOR  REPRESENTATIVE  VIRGINIA   STATIONS. 


Annual 

Killing  Frost    • 

Annual 

station. 

NAT. 
DIV.* 

JAN. 

APR. 

JUL. 

OCT. 

mean. 

EXTF 
MAX. 

HME 
MIN. 

L.\ST    IN 
SPRING. 

FIRST  IN 

AUTUMN. 

RAINFL 
INCHES. 

SNOWFL. 
INCHES. 

Table  1, 1900: 

Norfolk 

Richmond 

Farmville 

Lynchburg 

Staunton  

Clifton  Forge... 

Blacksburg 

Mana-sas 

Burkes  Garden.. 
Bigstone 

T 
P-T 
P 
P 
V 
A 
V 
P 
A 
A 

42. 
39.4 

37.6 

37-4 
31.8 
35.7 
35.0 
31.3 
35.2 

45.5 

57-3 
57.6 
57-1 
54.3 
50.5 

51.2 

53-6 
48.9 
55-2 

80.9 
81.2 
80.6 
78.6 
77.1 

74-6 
71-4 
78.8 
67.9 
75-2 

65.8 
64.6 
64.4 

63. 

60.7 
54.0 
63.4 

60.7 
59-7 

58.4 
56.9 
55.1 
52.9 
56.5 
50.1 

56.3 

100 
102 
105 
100 
102 
lOO 

96 

95 

X3 
10 

9 

2 

6 

-2 

2 

-6 

-4 

Mch.  22 
Apr.     5 
Apr.   14 
Mch.  22 
May    10 

May    10 

May      5 
May    II 

Nov.   10 
Nov.   10 
Nov.     6 
Nov.   10 
Nov.     9 
Nov.     6 
Oct.     18 
Nov.     9 
Oct.    10 
Nov.     5 

39-34 
37.76 

47.10 
39.02 
37.91 

43-75 
31.07 
41.85 
48.9 

7.3 
15.1 

9- 
7.2 

20.5 
4-5 
38.0 
20.5 

Table  11, 1901: 

Norfolk 

Richmond 

Farmville 

Lynchburg 

Staunton 

Charlotteville... 

Blacksburg 

Wytheville 

Burkes  Garden.. 
Bigstone  Gap... 

T 
P-T 
P 
P 
V 
P 
V 
V 
A 
A 

41.2 
38.8 
3Q.O 
38.3 
37.6 
37.8 
33.0 
35. 1 
31.8 
35-4 

52.0 
52.8 
53.6 
51-9 
50.0 
51.8 
45.2 
47.0 
42.4 
49.0 

81.0 
81.0 
82.2 
80.0 
78.2 
79.0 
74.0 
75-4 
70.4 
76. 5 

6i.o 
59.1 
57.4 
57.0 
56.8 
59-4 
52.0 

It: 

54.9 

58.5 
59-2 

55.7 
54-1 
55.4 
50.0 
52.2 
47.6 
53.3 

100 
99 

96 
97 
92 
95 
88 
95 

16 
9 

8 
I 
7 
0 
0 
-14 
-5 

Mch.     8 
Mch.  17 
Mcb.  30 
Mch.  18 
Apr.    T2 
Mch.  12 
Apr.    12 
Apr.    12 
Apr.    29 
Apr.    24 

Nov.  II 
Nov.     6 
Oct.    26 
Oct.    26 
Oct.    30 
Oct.    12 
Oct.      4 
Oct.      8 
Sept.  21 
Oct.      4 

42.61 
42.05 

54.81 
SI.  18 
65.29 
53.46 
62.65 
63-71 
55.77 

15.8 
II. 0 
10.3 

15-5 
20.3 

28.8 

Table  III,  1902: 

Norfolk 

Richmond 

Farmville 

Lynchburg...... 

Suunton 

Clifton  Forge... 

Blacksburg 

Manassas 

Burkes  Garden.. 
Bigstone  Gap... 

T 

P-T 
P 
P 
V 
A 
V 
P 
A 
A 

ll:t 
33.6 
34.2 

U:l 

30.5 
33.5 
29.0 

33-4 

56.0 
55.8 
54.8 
54.8 
52.4 
47.7 
49.0 
50.0 
44.7 
52.2 

79.6 
79.0 
80.7 
78.5 
76.3 

72.5 
77.0 
67.6 
74.2 

64.2 
61.6 
•59.6 

55.1 
58.6 
50.7 
57.6 

59.3 
58.2 

56.8 
54-9 

52.4 

55.1 

9? 
98 

lOI 

99 
99 

95 

'?, 

94 

18 
»S 

4 
13 

9 

5 
0 
0 

6 

Mch.  19 
Mch.     7 
Mch.  21 

Apr.    16 
Apr.    20 
Apr.    18 
Apr.    20 
Apr,    18 
Apr.    13 

Dec.     6 
Oct.    30 
Oct.    22 
Oct.    30 
Oct.    IS 

Sept.  14 
Oct.    22 
Sept.  14 
Oct.    IS 

38.4 
49.32 

48.79 
38.19 

36 '.85 

Jl:?l 

0.1 
2.2 

2.1 

6. 
II. 0 

♦  Tidewater  (T),   Piedmont  (P),   Valley  (V),  and  Appalachia  (A). 


Climate  and  Boundaries  of  Virginia. 

MEAN  ANNUAL  TEMPERATURE,  ETC.— Coniznued. 


Annual 

Killing  Frost 

Annual 

STATION, 

NAT. 
DIV.* 

JAN. 

APR. 

JUL, 

OCT, 

MEAN. 

EXTREME 
MAX.  1  MIN. 

LAST  IN 
SPRING. 

first  in 

AUTUMN, 

rainfl. 
inches. 

SNOWFL. 
INCHES. 

Table  IV,  1903: 

Norfolk 

Richmond 

Farmville 

Lynchburg 

Staunton 

Rocky  Mount... 

Blacksburg  

Burkes  Garden.. 

Manassas 

Williamsburg... 
Bigstone  Gap. .. 

T 

P-T 
P 
P 
V 
P 
V 
A 
P 
T 
A 

41.2 
38.2 
38.2 
36.6 
34.6 

33-4 
32-5 
29.7 
33-0 
35.8 
39-0 

54.5 
52.6 
50.5 
47.2 
53.1 
56.2 

54-3 

78.7 

III 

77.6 
74.2 

71.2 
71.8 

66,8 
75-8 
78,0 
74.0 

60.6 

in 

58.0 
57.1 

53-2 

III 

'56.6 
57.8 
55.2 

59. 0 

56.4 
54.4 

51.2 
48.1 

56.9 
55.1 

97 
93 

It 

95 
89 
91 
86 
96 
98 
94 

14 

7    • 
12 

8 

-5 

7 

-6 

2 

9. 
-3 

Apr.  5 
Apr.  24 
May      3 

May  2 
Apr,  6 
May  2 
May  5 
Apr.  6 
Mch.  4 
Apr,    24 

• 

Oct.    28 

Oct.  26 
Oct.    27 

Oct.      2S 

Oct.  27 
Sept.  29 
Sept.  19 
Oct.  27 
Oct.  27 
Oct.    19 

46. 10 

47.42 

41.24 
45.63 
49.61 
44.76 

46.22 

49.24 
46.8 

15.2 
20.4 

14.6 

20.0 
28.0 

20.9 

Table  V,  1904: 

Norfolk 

Richmond 

Farmville 

Lynchburg 

Staunton 

Wythville 

Blacksburg  

Charlottesville., 
Burkes  Garden. . 
Bigstone  Gap. . , 

T 
P-T 
P 
P 
V 
V 
V 
P 
A 
A 

36.4 
33-4 

32.8 
30.3 
28.8 

26.2 

32-5 

55-4 
54-2 
52.8 
52.2 
50.0 
46.5 
46.6 
52.8 
44.1 
5I-I 

77.2 
77-7 
78.0 
75.6 
72.5 
69.4 
69.4 
75-1 
64.4 
71.8 

59-6* 
57-7 

56.2 

55.3 

57.4 
56.2 

54.8 
52.9 
50.7 
50.3 
55.3 

54.3 

94 
98 

91 

is 

92 

12 

9 

-3 
-14 

■ 

Mch.  29 
Apr,  20 
Apr.  21 
Apr.  22 
Apr.  22 
Apr.  22 
May  16 
Apr,  22 
May  II 
May    17 

Nov.  7 
Oct.    28 

Oct.  4 
Oct.  7 
Oct.  15 
Oct.  15 
Oct.  7 
Sept.  16 
Oct.    24 

42.6 
37.84 

26.87 
28.84 
24.38 

32.25 
30.37 

39.06 

12.2 
19.0 

19.2 

19.9 
26.0 
21.0 
29.0 
30.2 

*  Tidewater  (T),  Piedmont  (P),  Valley  (V),  and  Appalachia  (A). 

Geographic  and   Political   Boundaries. 

Five  natural  geographic  divisions  can  be  easily  recognized  in  a 
Study  of  the  physical  features  and  climatic  belts  of  the  State.  These 
have  a  general  northeast  and  southv^est  direction,  as  fixed  by  the 
Atlantic  coast-line  on  the  east,  and  the  Appalachian  System  on  the 
v^est. 

Natural  Divisions. 

AREA  in  SQUARE 
MILES. 

I.  Tidewater ii,ooo 

j  2.  Middle 12,000 

[  3.  Piedmont    6,000 

4.  Blue  Ridge 2,500 

5.  Valley    5,000 

6.  Appalachia 5400 

These  divisions  succeed  each  other  in  parallel  order,  and  are 
characterized  by  a  continuous  increase  of  elevation  from  the  sea 
w^estward. 

Tidewater. — As  the  name  would  indicate,  this  represents  that 
portion  of  Virginia  territory  which  constitutes  a  part  of  the  Coastal 


8  Climate  and  Boundaries  of  Virginia. 

Plain.  It  is  an  irregular  quadrilateral  in  shape,  averaging  1 14  miles' 
in  length  from  north  to  south,  and  90  miles  in  width  from  east  to 
west,  and  includes  an  area  of  about  11,000  square  miles.  On  the 
south  it  borders  North  Carolina  for  a  distance  of  104  miles ;  on  the 
east  it  is  bounded  by  1,500  miles  of  tidal  shore-line  on  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  the  Lower  Potomac  River,  or  one  mile 
of  shore  to  every  71  1/3  square  miles  of  territory.  The  continent 
of  Europe  has  one  mile  of  shore-line  to  every  191  square  miles. 
The  western  boundary  is  marked  by  that  line  of  sudden  topographic 
change  known  as  the  fall  line,  where  the  streams  emerge  from  the 
hard  crystalline  rocks  of. Piedmont  on  to  the  soft  sedimentary  de- 
.posits  of  the  Coastal  Plain.  The  great  number  of  bays  and  estuaries 
are  of  comparatively  recent  origin,  having  been  formed  by  the 
gradual  subsidence  of  the  Coastal  Plain  region. 

The  political  boundary  lines  of  Virginia  are  generally  irregular, 
but  they  are  more  irregular  in  Tidewater  than  elsewhere,  since  the 
boundaries  of  the  older  counties  were  almost  without  exception 
fixed  by  the  streapis  and  the  Chesapeake  Bay  water  front. 

Middle  Virginia. — In  the  article  on  physiography  this  territory 
was  grouped  as  a  part  of  Piedmont  because  of  the  similarity  of 
structure  and  the  inability  to  so  clearly  differentiate  it  physiographi- 
cally  from  the  Piedmont  proper.  However,  in  the  early  development 
of  the  country  the  barriers  which  constitute  its  irregular  western 
border  were  sufficient  to  give  rise  to  a  fairly  well-defined  differentia- 
tion of  population.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  we  describe  it  here  as 
a  geographic  division. 

It  extends  westward  from  the  head  of  tide  ("fall  line")  to  the 
foot  of  the  .low,  broken  ranges,  Catoctin,  Bull  Run,  Yew,  Clark's, 
South-west,  Carter's,  Green,  Findlay's,  Buffalo,  Chandler's,  Smith's, 
etc.,  mountains  and  hills.  These  extend  across  the  State  in  a  south- 
west direction  from  the  Potomac  River,  near  the  corner  of  Fairfax 
County,  to  the  North  Carolina  line,  and  are  a  part  of  the  eastern 
outliers  of  the  Appalachian  System.  The  general  form  of  this  area 
is  that  of  a  right-angled  triangle,  its  base  resting  on  the  North  Caro- 
lina line ;  its  perpendicular  a  line  174  miles  in  length,  extending  from 
the  North  Carolina  line  to  the  Potomac  River ;  and  the  hypothenuse, 
216  miles  in  length,  extending  along  the  Piedmont  border.  Most  of 
the  streams  cross  it  at  right  angles,  dividing  it  into  a  series  of  ridges. 
On  the  whole,  it  has  the  appearance  of  an  undulating  plain.  A 
triangular  area,  including  a  part  of  Fauquier,  Fairfax,  Culpepper, 
and  Madison  counties,  consists  of  Triassic-Jurassic  sandstone,  which 
produces  a  residual  soil  of  marked  fertility  and  durability. 


Climate  and  Boundaries  of  Virginia.  9 

Piedmont. — This  division  extends  from  the  Appalachian  outliers, 
previously  named  as  the  irregular  western  border  of  Middle  Vir- 
ginia, to  the  eastern  base  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  It  varies  in  width 
from  20  to  30  miles,  and  extends  from  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  to 
the  banks  of  the  Dan  River  on  the  North  Carolina  line,  a  distance  of 
244  miles.  The  elevation  increases  from  300-500  feet  on  the  east, 
to  700-1200  feet  along  the  Blue  Ridge  border.  The  topography  is 
much  broken  by  the  numerous  streams  which  cross  it  almost  at  right 
angles. 

From  the  middle  of  the  17th  Century  to  the  middle  of  the  i8th 
Century  this  region  constituted  the  Virginia  frontier,  which  gave 
rise  to  a  very  distinct  type  of  society. 

Blue  Ridge. — This  is  the  most  prominent  physical  feature  in  the 
State,  and  stands  as  a  conspicuous  barrier  between  the  Piedmont  and 
Valley  regions.  It  is  3  to  20  miles  in  width.  Its  elevation  at  Har- 
per's Ferry,  where  the  Potomac  breaks  through  the  Ridge,  is  1,460 
feet.  This  increases  southwestward,  reaching  its  maximum  in 
Rogers  Mountain,  Grayson  County,  which  is  5,719  feet  in  elevation. 
In  its  southern  portion  it  expands  into  a  plateau,  which  is  the  water- 
shed for  the  waters  which  flow  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  This  fan-like  expansion  includes  the  counties  of 
Floyd,  Carroll,  Grayson,  and  parts  of  Franklin  and  Montgomery. 

The  early  colonists  gave  it  the  name  of  the  ''Blue  Mountain,"  or 
the  Blue  Ridge,  from  its  appearance  in  the  distance.  During  the 
first  half  century  of  colonization  the  inhabitants  believed  it  was  im- 
passable; and  the  first  explorers  to  ascend  it  did  so  only  to  find 
other  heights  as  formidable  in  appearance  looming  up  in  the  west, 
and  turned  back  in  discouragement.  In  the  spring  of  1669  John 
Lederer"^'  made  a  trip  to  the  top  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  which  he  called 
Apalataei.  Almost  the  whole  of  the  plateau  is  drained  by  New  River, 
which  flows  northeast  through  a  gorge  valley  of  circuitous  winding, 
having  established  its  course  at  a  stage  of  advanced  erosion,  when 
the  whole  Appalachian  area  was  reduced  to  a  peneplain. 

The  Valley. — This  division  is  15  to  30  miles  in  width  and  310 
miles  in  length,  making  an  area  of  about  5,000  square  miles.  It 
consists  of  a  continuous  chain  of  counties,  the  boundary  of  which 
is  fixed  by  the  Blue  Ridge  on  the  one  side  and  the  second  and  third 
range  west  of  the  valley  on  the  other.  Prior  to  1738  all  that  part  of 
Virginia  situated  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge  was  included  in  the  County 
of  Orange,  but  in  the  fall  of  1738  this  territory  was  divided  into  the 
counties  of  Frederick  and  Augusta. 

*  Discoveries  of  John  Lederer  in  1  hree  Marches  from  Virginia,  p.  ii. 


10  Climate  and  Boundaries  of  Virginia. 

Appalachia. — ^^This  is  the  most  irregular  of  the  natural  divisions 
both  in  boundary  and  physical  features.  The  eastern  boundary  is  in 
general  formed  by  Walker,  Brush,  and  North  Mountains ;  while  the 
western  is  formed  by  the  Cumberland,  Black  and  Flat  Top  Moun- 
tains south  of  the  New  River  divide,  and  by  the  Alleghany  Moun- 
tains or  the  Alleghany  Front  north  of  the  divide. 

This  irregular  belt  is  260  miles  in  length  and  10  to  50  miles  in 
width,  with  an  approximate  area  of  5,725  square  miles. 

The  counties  can  be  provisionally  grouped  with  reference  to  their 
drainage  system  as  follows : 

1.  James  River  Group,  including  Highland,  Bath,  Alleghany 
and  Craig  Counties. 

2.  Kanawha  or  New  River  Group,  including  Giles  and  Bland 
Counties. 

3.  Tennessee  River  Group,  including  Tazewell,  Russell,  Lee  and 
Scott  Counties. 

4.  Sandy  River  Group,  including  Buchanan  and  Wise  Counties, 
which  topographically  belong  to  the  Alleghany  Plateau  region. 

Summary  of  State  Boundaries  under  Different 
Charters  and  Negotiations. 

1606. — First  Charter*  under  James  I,  including  all  territory  100 
miles  from  the  coast,  between  34°-45°  N.  Latitude,  and  all  the 
islands  adjacent  thereto. 

1609. — Second  Charter,  known  as  "Virginia  Charter  of  1609,"  in- 
cluding 200  miles  along  the  seacoast  northward  and  southward 
"from  the  said  pojnt  of  Cape  Comfort,"  "through  from  sea  to 
sea,"  and  all  islands  adjacent  thereto. 

1611-1612. — Third  Virginia  Charter,  including  all  territory  between 
30°-4i°  North  Latitude. 

1632. — Maryland  is  detached,  but  the  separation  is  strenuously 
opposed  by  the  Virginia  colonists. 

1744. — Virginia  obtained  from  the  Six  Nations  a  deed  for  all  their 
territory,  which  had  for  its  boundary  on  the  west  and  north-, 
west  the  Mississippi  and  Illinois  Rivers;  thence  along  the  east 
side  of  Lake  Michigan,  including  Lake  Huron;  thence  to  the 
Ottawa  River,  which  it  followed  to  its  junction  with  the  St. 
Lawrence  River ;  thence  to  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain ;  thence 
on  the  45th  parallel  to  the  St.  Lawrence  River ;  thence  to  Lake 
Ontario;  thence  with  the  Lake  shore  to  the  western  Pennsyl- 
vania boundary."  f 

♦Jamestown  was  settled  under  this  charter. 

t  Colonial  Boundaries  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  Gilbert  Thompson,  pp.  8-9. 


Climate  and  Boundaries  of  Virginia.  11 

From  this  time  the  boundaries  remained  unchanged  until 
the  settlement  of  the  national  boundaries  by  the  cession  of  1783, 
in  which,  on  October  20,  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  act 
authorizing  the  delegates  in  Congress  to  convey  to  the  United 
States  all  the  Territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River.* 
1862-3. — The  territory  now  constituting  the  State  of  West  Virginia  f 
was  by  the  vote  of  the  people  separated  from  Virginia.  It 
consisted  of  the  three  Northwestern  Virginia  Senatorial  Dis- 
tricts. 


*  American  History  Leaflet  No.  22.     By  Hart  and  Channing.     p.  12. 

t  Constitution  framed  November,  1861-February,  1862,  and  ratified  by  the  popular  vote  in  April, 
1862.  Bill  for  the  admission  of  the  state  passed  the  United  States  Senate  July  14,  1862.  State  for- 
mally inaugurated  June  20,  1863. 

The  Rending  of  Virginia.     G.D.Hall,     pp.  26-27. 


RACIAL  AND   REGIONAL  STUDY  OF  THE 
VIRGINIA   POPULATION. 


BY 


G.  T.   SURFACE. 


The  distribution  of  population  in  a  new  or  old  country  affords  an 
essential  key  for  determining  the  factors  of  geographic  control  and 
economic  response.  In  this  brief  discussion  we  cannot  hope  to  do 
more  than  point  out  some  of  the  salient  facts  relative  to  the  estab- 
lishment, evolution,  and  distribution  of  the  people  of  Virginia. 

The  Indians,  who  were  in  possession  of  the  territory  prior  to  colo- 
nization, divided  themselves  into  three  confederacies — the  Powhat- 
ans,  Mannahoacs,  and  Monacans.  The  Powhatan  confederacy  occu- 
pied the  Coastal  Plain  region  and  southern.  Piedmont,  and  consisted 
of  30  tribes ;  the  tribes  inhabiting  the  headwaters  of  the  Potomac  and 
the  Rappahannock  Rivers  were  attached  to  the  Mannahoacs ;  while 
those  of  the  headwaters  of  the  James  River  and  the  Great  Valley 
belonged  to  the  powerful  Monacans.  The  territory  of  the  Monacans 
was  always  referred  to  by  the  eastern  tribes  as  *'the  stony  region." 
From  this  we  see  that  the  aboriginal  people  were  distributed  and 
divided  according  to  distinct  economic  and  physiographic  conditions. 
The  tribes  of  the  three  confederacies  spoke  languages  so  radically 
different  that  interpreters  were  necessary  for  the  transmission  of 
communications.  Each  was  as  distinctly  adjusted  to  his  primitive 
environment  as  was  the  Cavalier,  the  small  German  farmer,  and  the 
Scotch-Irish  mountaineer  of  a  century  later.  The  Powhatans  and 
the  Monacans  were  naturally  the  most  densely-populated  because 
their  food  supplies  were  both  more  abundant  and  more  accessible, 
and  the  density  in  any  local  area  was  in  direct  proportion  to  the  ease 
with  which  a  livelihood  could  be  obtained.  Captain  John  Smith 
estimated,  in  1609,  that  there  were  5,000  Indians  within  60  miles  of 
Jamestown. 

The  only  vestige  of  Indian  blood  remaining  which  can  be  identi- 
fied with  any  degree  of  certainty  is  that  of  two  small  reservations  in 
King  William  County,  and  these  are  considerably  more  negro  than 
Indian.     The  larger  band  numbers   120,  and  they  call  themselves 


2  Racial  and  Regional  Study  of  the  Virginia  Population. 

Pamunkies;  the  smaller  numbers  about  50,  and  they  call  themselves 
Mattaponies.  They  are  both  governed  by  chiefs  and  councillors, 
together  with  a  board  of  white  trustees  chosen  by  themselves.  That 
they  can  lay  some  claim  to  being  descendants  of  Powhatan  may  be 
inferred  from  Thomas  Jefferson's  reference  to  the  Mattaponies  and 
Pamunkies  still  occupying,  in  1787,  small  holdings  in  King  William 
County,  on  the  streams  bearing  their  names.* 

Most  of  the  Virginia  colonists  of  the  17th  Century  were  English. 
Of  these  a  small  minority  were  of  the  English  gentry,  while  the  free 
and  indentured  f  servants  constituted  the  vast  majority.  Though 
these  classes  were  of  the  same  race,  they  were  as  widely 'separated 
in  point  of  ability  and  social  standing  as  if  they  had  belonged  to 
different  races.  They  came  for  the  most  part  from  southwestern 
England,  many  being  from  the  city  of  Bristol,  and  settled  on  the 
Coastal  Plain  and  along  the  eastern  border  of  Piedmont.  The  Cava- 
liers did  not  come  in  large  numbers  until  after  1649.  By  1790  they 
were  estimated  to  number  250,000  and  to  represent  the  majority  of 
the  free  whites.  That  almost  all  of  them  became  planters,  and  be- 
came political  and  social  rulers-,  is  so  well  known  as  not  to  demand 
a  discussion. 

The  Quakers  began  to  make  their  appearance  in  1656,  and  the 
first  immigrants  settled  in  Nansemond  County.  As  the  agitation 
against  them  increased,  some  of  them  moved  to  the  western  Pied- 
mont and  Valley  region;  but  they  continued  stronger  in  the  south- 
eastern portion  of  the  State  than  they  became  elsewhere. 

Small  parties  of  French  Huguenots  were  introduced  in  the  early 
part  of  the  17th  Century  for  the  purpose  of  planting  vineyards  and 
conducting  that  industry,  but  their  coming  was  not  fostered  by  the 
Government  until  1700.  In  this  year  Colonel  Byrd  :{:  negotiated  for 
the  landing  of  500  Huguenot  refugees,  who  were  distributed  as  fol- 
lows, according  to  Brock :  §  ''They  appear  to  have  settled  at  differ- 
ent points ;  a  portion  about  Jamestown,  some  in  Norfolk  County, 
others  in  Surrey,  and  200  or  more  at  a  point  some  20  miles  above 
Richmond,  on  the  south  side  of  the  James  River  (Powhatan 
County),  where  10,000  acres  of  land,  which  had  been  occupied  by 
the  extinct  Mannakin  tribe,  was  given  them."  This  settlement  was 
made  a  distinct  parish  by  an  Act  of  the  Assembly,  December,  1700. 
They  were  accepted  as  desirable  foreign  immigrants  because  they 
accepted  as  a  class  the  religion  of  the  Established  Church.     The 

*  Lecky— England  in  the  i8th  Century,  Vol.  3. 

+  Servants  bonded  for  a  time  service  to  pay  for  transporution. 

t  Lecky— England  in  the  i8th  Century,  Vol.  3. 

ft  R.  M.  La  Follette.     The  Making  of  America,  Vol.  i,  p.  16. 


Racial  and  Regional  Study  of  the  Virginia  Population.  3 

Huguenots  were  the  most  intelligent  and  enterprising  Frenchmen  of 
the  17th  Century.  Many  were  merchants  and  manufacturers,  and 
few  belonged  to  the  French  peasantry,  or  wage-earning  class. 
Henry  Cabot  Lodge  has  attempted  to  differentiate  the  American 
''notables"  according  to  race.  He  finds  that  589  of  the  14,243  listed 
in  Appleton's'Enclycopedia  of  American  Biography  are  of  Hugue- 
not descent,  which  would  indicate  on  that  basis  of  comparison  a 
percentage  of  ability  higher  than  that  of  any  other  race.  The  immi- 
grants to  America  being  largely  a  select  class  of  tradesmen  and 
artisans,  combined  with  the  readiness  with  which  they  assimilated 
the  language  and  religion,  gave  them  a  special  opportunity  for  ad- 
vancement. 

The  German  immigrants  during  the  early  colonization  of  Virginia 
are  usually  spoken  of  as  "skilled  workmen  of  the  trades,"  but  their 
immigration  did  not  assume  important  proportions  until  after  the 
beginning  of  the  i8th  Century.  About  this  time  they  began  to  come 
in  large  numbers  as  an  overflow  from  Pennsylvania,  where  the  policy 
of  William  Penn  was  so  favourable  that  more  than  500,000  came  to 
that  State  in  20  years.  As  a  class  they  were  poor,  and  those  who 
came  from  England  were  religious  refugees.  The  land  of  the  east- 
ern part  of  the  State  was  occupied,  and  the  attitude  of  these  English 
colonists  was  anything  but  generous  to  separatists  of  any  class.  The 
presence  of  a  frontier  protection  barrier  was,  however,  so  desirable 
as  to  make  their  presence  in  the  western  part  of  the  State  tolerated. 
Here  land  was  cheapest,  and  the  Great  Valley  gateway  opened  di- 
rectly into  it,  so  it  was  but  natural  that  the  Germans  settled  chiefly 
in  the  Valley  and  the  western  Piedmont  counties.  It  is  in  this  region 
that  we  find  their  descendants  in  large  numbers  to-day;  and  they 
are,  as  a  rule,  industrious,  thrifty,  frugal,  and  pious. 

More  Scotch-Irish  settled  in  Virginia  in  the  18th  Century  than 
any  other  class.  This  is  a  mixed  race,  made  up  of  the  primitive 
Scot  and  Pict,  the  primitive  Briton,  the  primitive  Irish,  but  with  a 
larger  admixture  of  the  later  Norwegian,  Dane,  Saxon,  and  Angle. 
The  discriminatory  trade  laws  passed  by  the  Irish  Parliament  in 
1698  destroyed  their  industrial  prospects ;  and  the  Test  Act  of  Queen 
Anne's  Parliament,  compelling  public  officials  to  take  the  communion 
of  the  Established  Church,  deprived  them  entirely  of  self-govern- 
ment. With  this  they  began  to  migrate  in  large  numbers.  They 
found  in  Massachusetts  a  State  church  to  which  they  must  conform 
to  be  admitted  to  citizenship;  the  Dutch  of  New  York  were  un- 
friendly to  them;  the  Germans  were  localized  and  in  possession  of 
eastern  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland;  and  the  English  held  eastern 


4  Racial  and  Regional  Study  of  the  Virginia  Population. 

Virginia.  In  consequence,  the  great  majority  went  west  into  central 
and  western  Pennsylvania,  and  southward  through  the  Great  Valley 
into  the  frontier  country  of  Virginia,  on  into  east  Tennessee  and 
western  North  Carolina.  So  favourable  were  the  geographic  con- 
ditions that  they  became  the  dominant  class  in  the  Valley.  While 
the  planters  of  eastern  Virginia  were  living  in  luxury  and  ease,  with 
an  abundance  of  time  and  ambition  for  political  and  social  pursuits, 
these  hardy  immigrants  were  building  houses,  clearing  forests, 
tilling  the  soil,  and  fighting  the  ever-menacing  Indians.  They  were 
brave,  brawny,  resolute,  robust,  and  industrious.  Their  experiences 
in  Scotland  had  been  such  as  to  make  them  brave  and  self-reliant, 
and  appreciative  of  the  conditions  of  freedom. 

Much  of  this  1 8th  Century  frontier  region  has,  under  the  touch 
of  skill  and  civilization,  become  the  garden  spot  of  the  State,  with 
the  largest  wealth  per  capita  of  any  section  in  the  State;  but  many 
of  the  communities  are  the  direct  descendants  of  the  first  settlers, 
with  scarcely  a  trace  of  foreign  admixture,  and  are  probably  the 
purest  stock  in  America. 

The  Italians  did  not  become  an  important  part  of  Virginia  immi- 
gration until  within  the  past  three  decades,  but  are  coming  now  in 
larger  numbers  than  any  other  race.  Two  causes  explain  this  un- 
usual influx :  first,  the  immense  Italian  immigration  to  America — 
200,000  per  year;  and,  second,  the  unprecedented  industrial  activity 
of  the  State,  such  as  railroad  construction,  mineral  development,  and 
factory  enterprises.  Most  of  them  are  from  southern  Italy,  where 
the  agricultural  wages  are  from  8  to  32  cents  per  day.  They  com- 
mand in  Virginia  $1.25  to  $3.00  per  day  in  mining,  and  $1.50  to 
$3.00  per  day  in  railroad  construction.  They  are  the  most  migratory 
of  our  foreign  constituency.  They  are  also  the  most  illiterate,  the 
most  subservient  to  superiors,  and  yeft  among  the  most  thrifty  and 
industrious  of  our  common  labourers.  Their  standards  of  living 
are  naturally  low,  the  majority  being  of  the  peasantry  who  have  fled 
from  poverty,  congested  population,  and  the  oppression  of  the  land- 
lord system.  We  get  very  few  immigrants  from  northern  Italy, 
which  has  that  intellectual,  educated,  and  progressive  type,  so  well 
demonstrated  in  their  development  of  the  Argentine  Republic.  In 
Buenos  Aires  they  constitute  one-third  of  the  population,  and  own 
one-half  of  the  commercial  capital  of  the  city. 

The  negro  population  of  the  State  is  undergoing  a  rapid  readjust- 
ment in  aggregate  and  territorial  distribution.  According  to  the 
1900  Census,  there  were  55,000  negroes  to  every  100,000  whites,  as 
compared  with  62,290  to  each  100,000  whites  in  1890.     The  white 


Racial  and  Regional  Study  of  the  Virginia  Population.  5 

population  increased  16.9  per  cent,  in  the  last  decade,  while  the 
negro  increased  but  4  per  cent.  The  negro  population  in  the  differ- 
ent geographic  divisions  is  distributed  as  follows  in  the  order  of 
density:  Piedmont,  Tidewater,  the  Valley,  Appalachia,  and  the 
Blue  Ridge. 

The  migration  is  taking  place  in  four  directions :  from  the  State 
as  a  whole  to  northern  and  eastern  cities ;  from  the  non-mining  dis- 
tricts to  the  mining  districts;  from  the  country  to  the  cities  and 
towns  of  the  State;  and  from  the  mountains  to  the  valleys.  The 
population  was  never  large  in  the  mountain  sections,  but  almost  all 
of  the  few  thousands  who  lived  in  the  mountains  have  moved  out. 
More  than  30  per  cent  of  the  total  coloured  population  live  in  cities 
and  towns,  while  less  than  20  per  cent  of  the  white  population  is 
urban.  The  relative  decrease  in  the  population  is  attributed  to  the 
high  death-rate,  and  the  northern  migration — chiefly  to  Washington, 
Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  and  New  York.  The  census  returns  from 
ten  southern  cities  gave  the  coloured  death-rate  at  30.5  per  1,000 
coloured  persons,  while  for  the  whites  it  was  17.9  per  1,000  in  the 
same  cities.  The  coloured  infantile  death-rate  is  nothing  less  than 
appalling — 371  deaths  to  1,000  children  born,  as  compared  with  148 
among  the  whites.  The  coloured  death-rate  from  tubercular  trouble 
is  more  than  two  and  one-half  times  as  great  as  among  the  whites. 
What  statistics  we  have  on  this  subject  for  the  years  1820  to  1850 
indicate  that  the  coloured  death-rate  from  this  cause  was  less  than 
that  of  the  whites.  The  causes  are  too  numerous  for  a  full  dis- 
cussion in  this  paper.  The  most  apparent  are — the  change  from  an 
open-air  country  life  to  congested  city  life,  prevalence  of  immorality 
and  vice,  ignorance  of  the  laws  of  health,  lack  of  medical  attention, 
and  the  lack  of  institutions  for  antagonizing  disease.  The  economic 
safety  of  the  white  population  and  the  rescue  of  the  negro  from 
physical  degeneration  demand  that  the  situation  receive  prompt  and 
vigorous  attention  at  the  hand  of  the  Government  (State  and 
Federal),  of  all  institutions  organized  for  the  purpose  of  safe-guard- 
ing the  interests  of  humanity,  and  of  every  citizen  and  individual 
who  prizes  the  health  of  his  own  family  as  worthy  of  protection. 

As  a  factor  in  the  labour  situation,  the  negro  is  important ;  but  it 
is  difficult  to  predict  his  economic  future.  In  Virginia  he  is  drifting 
rapidly  away  from  agriculture,  is  generally  unsatisfactory  in  factory 
service,  and  many  are  developing  such  a  marked  aversion  to  do- 
mestic service  as  to  be  willing  to  live  in  poverty  rather  than  engage 
in  it.  In  whatever  service  engaged  he  is  irregular,  but,  notwith- 
standing this  serious  objection,  is  generally  considered  as  the  most 


6  Racial  and  Regional  Study  of  the  Virginia  Population. 

satisfactory  labourer  in  construction  work  and  mining  operations. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  his  services  in  restaurants  and  hotels. 

*  *  *  *  5k  *  * 

Population  statistics  supply  at  least  a  partial  gradient  for  reading 
the  economic  and  social  conditions  underlying  them.  During  the 
decade  1890- 1900,  the  general  population  of  the  State  increased  16 
per  cent.,  the  rural  population  a  little  less  than  12,  and  the  urban 
population  22.y.  As  a  rule,  economic  factors  are  predominant  in  the 
shifting  and  readjustment  of  population;  but  in  the  case  of  the 
negro  social  factors  seem  to  be  of  paramount  importance.  Since 
each  natural  division  of  the  State  has  its  own  distinct  economic 
environment,  it  will  be  interesting  to  examine  into  the  human  re- 
sponse as  expressed  by  the  redistribution  which  is  in  progress.  The 
average  increase  in  Tidewater  was  (1890-1900)  14.1  per  cent.,  this 
being  exclusive  of  incorporated  towns.  This  evidences  a  normal 
healthful  growth  in  the  development  of  agriculture,  which  is  the 
only  rural  source  of  wealth. 

Passing  to  Piedmont,  the  population  curve  rapidly  descends  to 
an  average  increase  of  4.3  per  cent.  How  shall  we  explain  the 
relative  decrease?  In  six  counties  within  60  miles  of  Richmond 
there  was  an  absolute  decrease,  the  result  of  city  migration  for  more 
lucrative  employment  than  the  worn  and  frequently  sterile  soil  can 
realize,  better  educational  and  religious  advantages,  and  the  pur- 
chase of  country  real  estate  by  city  investors. 

There  are  only  three  counties  which  are  situated  wholly  in  the 
Blue  Ridge  division:  Floyd,  Carroll,  and  Grayson.  These  are 
rugged  plateau  counties,  which  until  recently  were  20  to  30  miles 
from  railroad  connection,  and  in  consequence  are  devoted  entirely 
to  agricultural  pursuits.  The  population  increased  in  the  past  de- 
cade 1 6. 1  per  cent.  From  a  careful  field  survey  of  this  region  I  am 
convinced  that  the  large  increase  is  due  to. the  prevalence  of  large 
families.     The  small  family  is  in  that  region  the  exception. 

The  Valley  has  had  a  normal  healthful  growth,  with  an  increase 
of  13.5  per  cent.  This  is  the  most  productive  agricultural  region  of 
the  State.  It  has  for  many  years  been  served  by  a  railroad  line 
throughout  its  length.  The  productivity  of  the  soil,  proximity  to 
shipping  points  and  small  towns,  and  a  native  population  trained  to 
labour  with  the  hands  have  minimized  the  tendency  toward  urban 
migration. 

Appalachia  has  been  the  scene  of  the  most  phenomenal  develop- 
ment, chiefly  through  the  growth  of  the  coal  and  iron  industries. 
The  average  increase  in  population  1890-1900  was  29.9  per  cent., 


■Racial  and  Regional  Study  of  the  Virginia  Population.  7 

and  the  increase  since  1900  has  been  even  greater.  Wise  County 
showed  an  increase  of  110.3  per  cent.;  Allegheny,  75.9  per  cent.; 
Buchanan,  65.2  per  cent. ;  and  Dickenson,  52.6  per  cent. 

Of  the  total,  population  engaged  in  some  gainful  occupation 
(536,883),  45.4  per  cent,  are  engaged  in  agriculture,  as  compared 
with  51.5  per  cent,  in  1880;  15  per  cent,  in  domestic  and  personal 
service;  14. i  per  cent,  in  manufactures  and  mechanical  pursuits; 
1 1.2  per  cent,  in  trade  and  transportation  (as  compared  with  6.4 
per  cent,  in  1880)  ;  2.5  per  cent,  in  professional  service;  1.4  per 
cent,  in  fishing;  i.i  per  cent,  in  mining  and  quarrying;  and  the 
remaining  9.4  per  cent,  in  sundry  vocations. 


VIRGINIA  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE. 


BY 


G.   T.   SURFACE. 


Excepting  the  complicated  factor  of  human  traffic,  the  commer- 
cial relations  in  Virginia  under  slavery  were  surprisingly  simple,  as 
compared  with  the  social  ideals  and  customs  of  the  time.  The 
explanation  for  this  is  manifest,  in  that  the  large  labour  surplus 
enabled  the  owners  to  be  producers  of  most  of  the  articles  consumed, 
and  at  the  same  time  produce  a  large  surplus  of  tobacco,  the  most 
profitable  commodity  in  the  export  trade.  In  1790,  Virginia  ranked 
first  in  the  total  value  of  exports  ($3,131,865).  By  1830  the  export 
trade  had  increased  to  $4,791,644;  while  for  the  same  year  the 
imports  only  aggregated  $405,739,  showing  how  adequately  the 
demands  were  met  by  the  home  manufacturers. 

The  passing  of  the  War  crisis,  with  its  destruction  to  life  and 
property,  and  the  emancipation  of  slaves,  made  necessary  a  new 
system  of  production,  which  in  turn  brought  about  a  reactionary 
adjustment  of  Virginia's  commercial  relations.  The  decade  follow- 
ing the  Civil  War  is  the  period  which  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new 
era  in  the  industrial  and  commercial  development  of  the  State. 
We  shall,  therefore,  discuss  briefly  the  factors  which  gave  impetus 
and  foundation  to  the  succeeding  order.  The  immediate  and  most 
urgent  demand  was  to  become  self-sustaining,  by  the  production  of 
food-stuffs  and  clothing,  since  all  of  the  surplus  had  been  consumed 
during  the  four-years'  struggle,  which  centred  on  Virginia  territory, 
and  from  which  the  people  of  the  State  suffered  most.  Co-ordinate 
with  this  was  the  demand  for  restoring  the  property  losses  incurred. 
Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  thousands  of  negroes  migrated  to  the 
cities  of  the  North  and  the  cotton  fields  of  the  South,  there  was  still 


2  Virginia  Trade  and  Commerce. 

a  surplus  of  negro  labourers,  but  thoroughly  disorganized  and 
demoralized ;  and  few  of  the  landowners  had  the  capital  with  which 
to  employ  labour.  Capital  far  in  excess  of  the  surplus  had  been 
invested  in  negroes,  so  that  bankruptcy  was  more  general  than  sur- 
plus capital,  The  large  tobacco  surplus  was,  therefore,  ruled  out  by 
the  conditions  at  home,  and  a  diversified  agricultural  production  on 
a  small  scale  made  necessary.  This  initiative  was  promoted  and 
fostered  by  conditions  outside  of  the  State.  Cotton  rose  to  fabulous 
prices,  and  in  the  cotton  States  all  energy  was  bent  to  a  maximum 
production.  They  could  not  afford  to  raise  poor  corn  and  wheat 
crops  on  good  cotton  land,  when  cotton  was  selling  at  fifty  to  sixty 
cents  per  pound.  There  developed,  in  consequence,  a  great  demand 
for  provisions  in  the  cotton  States.  The  border  States — Virginia, 
Tennessee,  and  Kentucky — were  adapted  to  grains,  grasses,  and  the 
live-stock  industries,  but  not  to  cotton.  The  stimulus  for  diversified 
agriculture  in  these  States  was  therefore  much  intensified  by  the 
situation  in  the  cotton  States.  But  the  situation  in  the  North  was 
no  less  favourable  toward  this  same  development.  While  the  South 
had  been  purchasing  negroes  and  growing  negroes,  the  North  had 
been  building  factories,  extending  trade,  and  accumulating  a  large 
surplus.  As  the  war  progressed  prices  rose  and  Northern  industries 
flourished,  as  a  result  of  which  there  was  more  money  in  the  North 
at  the  close  of  the  war  than  at  the  beginning.  Following  the  war  the 
demand  for  cotton  and  woollen  goods,  farming  implements,  and 
labour-saving  machinery  was  unprecedented,  and  so  the  Northern 
factories  entered  upon  a  new  era  of  development  and  prosperity, 
which  rapidly  increased  the  urban  population.  As  a  result,  instead 
of  the  manufacturing  States  having  a  surplus  of  food-stuffs,  they 
could  scarcely  supply  the  home  demand. 

Without  discussing  the  beneficial  effects  of  emancipation  upon  the 
production  and  trade  of  the  State,  it  must  be  apparent  to  every 
student  of  Virginia's  economic  and  industrial  development  that  the 
change  in  the  system  was  most  fortunate.  It  induced  an  unwonted 
economy,  which  of  itself  was  a  discipline  of  far-reaching  importance ; 
discontinued  the  general  practice  of  wholesale  timber  destruction  ; 
labour-saving  machinery  was  purchased;  the  soil  better  cultivated; 
the  property  improved;  the  children  schooled;  and  the  surplus  gra- 
dually increased. 

Virginia  is  just  now  entering  upon  another  era  of  industrial 
development,  which  may  be  characterized  as  the  era  of  scientific 
agriculture  and  diversified  manufacture.  This  was  made  possible  by 
the  sounder  and  more  economic  bases  of  the  post-bellum  policies. 


Virginia  Trade  and  Commerce.  3 

We  shall  discuss  the  present  trade  conditions  under  the  following 
divisions:  Intra-State  Commerce,  or  the  sale  and  exchange  of  pro- 
ducts between  different  sections  of  the  State :  Inter-State  Commerce, 
the  trade  relations  with  other  States ;  and  Foreign  Commerce. 


Intra-State  Commerce. 

Regional.* — The  distinct  zones  of  production  conform  in  general 
to  the  natural  geographic  divisions. f  Tidewater  produces  a  large 
surplus  of  garden  products,  peanuts,  fish,  and  oysters,  and  these  are 
the  most  important  shipments  westward;  but  they  are  more  thafi 
balanced  by  the  coal,  lumber,  hay,  grain,  and  tobacco  received  from 
the  western  part  of  the  State  for  home  consumption. 

PiedmontX  produces  a  smaller  surplus  proportional  to  its  area 
than  either  Tidewater  or  the  Valley,  but  its  productions  are  so  varied 
that  the  deficiency  of  one  part  of  the  region  could  be  supplied  from 
the  surplus  of  another,  if  developed  with  reference  to  economic 
adaptation.  Coal  from  Appalachia  is  the  most  important  shipment 
into  Piedmont.  Tobacco§  constitutes  the  largest  surplus  of  southern 
Piedmont,  and  live-stock  the  largest  of  northern  Piedmont.  Fully 
three-fourths  of  the  total  tobacco  crop  is  manufactured  within  the 
area.  The  important  manufacturing  and  distributing  points  are 
Richmond,  1 1  Petersburg,^  Lynchburg,  Danville,  Chatham,  and 
Martinsville. 

The  trade  of  Blue  Ridge  consists  chiefly  of  the  sale  of  live-stock, 
lumber,  and  fruits ;  and  the  purchase  of  furniture,  groceries,  clothing, 
and  machinery.  This  plateau  section  has  more  live-stock**  per 
square  mile  than  any  of  the  other  geographic  divisions. 

The  Valley  produces  a  large  surplus  of  grain,  hay,  live-stock, 
winter  vegetables,  and  fruit.  A  large  part  of  the  provision  surplus 
of  the  southern  Valley  is  marketed  in  the  mining  districts  of  Virginia- 
West  Virginia,  which  is  contiguous  territory.  There  is  still  a  small 
surplus  of  forest  products,  but  the  cultivatable  land  is  being  rapidly 

*  Production  and  trade  of  cities  will  be  considered  under  a  separate  head. 

t  The  natural  geographic  divisions  of  the  State  are  Tidewater,  or  the  Coastal  Plain;  Piedmont,  or 
the  plateau  region;  the  Blue  Ridge;  the  Valley;  and  Appalachia. 

t  Middle  Virginia  is  here  considered  as  a  part  of  Piedmont. 

§  Sixteen  counties  in  Piedmont  produced,  in  1900,  more  than  3,000,000  pounds  each.  Pittsylvania 
ranked  first,  17,088,550  pounds;  Halifax  second,  13,077,200  pounds;  and  Mecklenburg  third,  7,368,220 
pounds. 

II  On  the  Piedmont-Tidewater  boundary. 

•l  Floyd,  Carroll  and  Grayson  are  the  only  counties  situated  wholly  in  this  division. 

**  Cattle,  33  per  square  mile;  sheep,  46.3  per  square  mile  (1900). 


4  Virginia  Trade  and  Commerce. 

deforested,  and  cannot  be  reckoned  as  an  important  and  permanent 
factor  of  trade. 

The  wealth  of  the  Valley  is  greater  per  capita  than  is  that  of  any- 
other  division,  which  makes  it  a  large  purchaser  of  farming  imple- 
ments, household  furniture,  and  general  merchandise. 

Appalachia  produces  a  large  surplus  of  coal,  coke,  lumber,  and 
live-stock.  The  coal  is  shipped  to  all  parts  of  the  State.  The  cattle 
are  marketed  locally,  in  the  eastern  cities,  and  as  exports.  Tazewell, 
Russell,  Craig,  Bland,  and  Giles  counties  form  the  agricultural  belt 
of  Appalachia,  by  virtue  of  a  large  part  of  the  area  having  a  strong 
residual  limestone  soil.  Live-stock — especially  small  cattle  and 
sheep — and  lumber  are  the  important  sources  of  revenue  in  northern 
Appalachia. 

The  mining  counties — Wise,  Russell,  Buchanan,  Dickenson,  and 
Lee — are  large  purchasers  of  provisions,  merchandise,  mining 
machinery,  draft  horses,  and  alcoholic  drinks. 

Cities.* 

Since  no  separate  record  of  the  State  and  inter-State  traffic  is  kept, 
it  is  impossible  to  give  figures  as  to  the  exact  amount  of  shipments 
from  the  manufacturing  and  distributing  points.  The  discussion  is, 
however,  based  upon  a  careful  study  of  the  inter-State  and  foreign 
trade,  reports  and  statements  from  the  various  Boards  of  Trade,  and 
personal  observations  in  representative  sections. 

Richmond  ranks  first  in  population;  is  served  by  more  railroads 
than  any  other  point  in  the  State;  is  largest  manufacturing,  jobbing, 
and  distributing  centre ;  and  is  the  most  centrally  locatedf  city  in 
the  State.  There  were  1,554  factories  in  operation  in  1906,  the  sales 
of  which  aggregated  $77,432,692.  Of  the  manufactures,  tobacco 
led  with  59  factories,  and  a  total  product  of  $20,195,336.  The  follow- 
ing valuations  are  given  for  the  respective  classes  of  manufactures: 
Iron  products  (including  farming  implements),  $9,876,482;  fer- 
tilizers, chemicals,  iron  and  cement  products,  $8,376,120;  and  leather 
products,  $3,361,077.  The  jobbing  trade  for  1906  aggregated 
$61,524,275.  All  of  the  important  articles  of  manufacture  are  sold 
throughout  the  State. 

The  largest  purchases  made  by  the  city  consist  of  tobacco,  lumber, 
grain,  flour,|  leather,  vegetables,  and  poultry  products. 

•  This  part  of  the  discussion  relates  only  to  the  intrastate  trade  of  the  cities. 

+  If  we  draw  a  circle  around  Richmond  as  the  centre  on  a  radius  which  will  include  Accomac 
County,  this  circle  will  include  four-fifths  of  the  total  Virginia  territory. 

X  The  Richmond  Grain  and  Cotton  Exchange  received  during  1905,  4,500,000  bushels  of  grain,  and 
162,200  barrels  of  flour. 


Virginia  Trade  and  Commerce.  5 

Greater  Norfolk  {including  Norfolk,  Portsmouth,  Berkley  and 
U.  S.  Navy  Yard). — Norfolk  is  not  only  Virginia's  most  important 
port,  but  one  of  the  most  important  in  the  South.  Among  Southern 
ports  it  ranks  first  in  lumber,  first  in  peanuts,  second  in  coal,  and 
fourth  in  cotton  shipments. 

The  city  is  situated  at  the  junction  of  the  southern  and  western 
branches  of  the  Elizabeth  River,  which  is  tributary  to  the  James 
River  Estuary,  of  which  Hampton  Roads  is  the  connecting  channel 
with  the  Chesapeake  Bay.  The  James  River  has  no  bar  at  its  mouth, 
and  there  are  30  feet  of  water  at  low  tide.  The  distance  of  Norfolk 
from  the  ocean  is  32  miles,  and  from  Hampton  Roads  8  miles.  As 
to  the  special  advantages  of  the  Norfolk  harbour,  I  quote  from  the 
report  of  Commodore  M.  F.  Maury:  "Norfolk,  be  it  remembered, 
with  its  deep  waters,  spacious  harbors  and  free  outlet  between  the 
Capes  of  Virginia  to  the  sea,  occupies  geographically  what  the  early 
discoverers  thought  would  be,  and  what  physical  geography  claims 
is,  the  most  commanding  commercial  position  along  the  whole 
Atlantic  seaboard  of  the  United  States.  Its  natural  advantages, 
make  it  so."* 

There  are  30  miles  of  wharf  frontage.  The  outer  harbour  con- 
tains 50  square  miles  of  anchorage  ground,  with  a  depth  of  50  feet ; 
and  the  inner  harbour  (Elizabeth  River  and  its  branches)  has  1,000 
acres  of  anchorage  ground,  with  a  depth  of  28  feet.  Portsmouthf 
is  just  across  the  river  from  Norfolk,  and  has  a  harbour  frontage  of 
one  mile. 

The  traffic  of  the  southern  branch  of  the  Elizabeth  River  in  1905 
showed  a  great  increase  over  any  previous  year,  being  about  1 1 ,000,- 
000  tons,  valued  at  more  than  $500,000,000.$ 

Norfolk  ranks  first  as  a  rehandling,  and  foreign  and  domestic 
export  point;  and  in  the  variety  and  volume  of  manufactures  ranks 
next  to  Richmond.  The  largest  enterprise  is  the  United  States  Navy 
Yard  at  Portsmouth,  which  employs  more  than  2,000  wage-earners 
at  a  total  cost  of  $2,000,000  per  year.  The  following  important 
industries  enter  into  the  general  supplies  and  traffic  of  the  State: 
Fertilizer,  tobacco,  lumber  and  iron  mills,  cotton  factories,  cotton 
compresses,  packing-houses,  peanut  factories,  fisheries,  brick  fac- 
tories, farming  implements,  and  shoe  factories.  The  total  value  of 
manufactures  was  estimated  for  1905  at  $34,400,000.  Fertilizer, 
tobacco   (manufactured),  canned  meats,  peanuts,  and  oysters  are 

*  Physical  Survey  of  Virginia,  M.  F.  Maury,  1876,  p.  20. 

+  Considered  a  part  of  Greater  Norfolk. 

t  Report  of  Chief  of  Engineers,  U.  S,  Army,  1906,  p.  238. 


6  Virginia  Trade  and  Commerce. 

shipped  to  all  parts  of  the  State.  The  Norfolk  jobbing  and  wholesale 
houses  do  a  large  business  in  Tidewater,  eastern  and  south-eastern 
Piedmont,  and  North  Carolina.  It  is  the  largest  horse  market  in  the 
South,  the  aggregate  sales  of  1905  being  $2,500,000. 

The  volume  of  the  traffic  going  into  Greater  Norfolk  far  exceeds 
that  of  any  other  point  in  Virginia.  The  most  important  classes  are 
in  the  order  of  tonnage:  Lumber,  iron,  coal,  grain,  garden  products, 
live-stock,  cotton,"^'  and  tobacco.  The  lumber  comes  from  Appala- 
chia,  the  Valley,  Blue  Ridge,  Piedmont,  and  from  North  Carolina, 
Tennessee,  and  West  Virginia ;  the  coal  from  Appalachia,  the  States 
of  Kentucky  and  West  Virginia;  the  grain  and  live-stock  from  all 
parts  of  the  State,  and  the  Middle  West;  the  garden  products  from 
Tidewater  and  Piedmont  chiefly,  the  cotton  from  Virginia,  North  and 
South  Carolina ;  and  the  tobacco  from  Piedmont. 

Newport  News'f  is  situated  on  the  northern  shore  of  Hampton 
Roads,  20  miles  due  west  from  Cape  Henry.  The  depth  of  the 
water  off  piers  is  60  feet;  There  are  ten  miles  of  water  front,  and 
good  anchorage.  The  port  is  served  by  18  regular  steamship  lines. 
The  total  tonnage  for  1905  was  4,717,858  tons:}:  valued  at  $89,816,- 
686.  About  three-fourths  of  the  total  tonnage  consisted  of  coal  and 
coke.  It  is  the  seaboard  terminus  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Rail- 
road, which  intersects  more  intra- State  lines  than  any  other  road 
operating  in  the  State,,  and  about  three-fourths  of  its  traffic  is  sup- 
plied by  the  connecting  lines.  The  most  important  classes  of  coast- 
bound  traffic  originating  in  Virginia  are:  Grain,  live-stock,  lumber, 
tobacco,  and  garden  products.  Newport  News  is  an  important  dis- 
tributing centre  for  merchandise,  furniture,  farming  implements,  and 
machinery,  which  go  to  all  parts  of  the  State  north  of  the  James 
River,  and  a  small  part  is  diverted  to  the  connecting  lines  from  the 
South. 

Lynchburg.^ — As  an  inland  railroad  centre  Lynchburg  ranks  next 
to  Richmond  in  importance.  Although  Lynchburg  is  now  entirely 
an  inland  town,  its  early  importance  as  a  trade  centre  was  fixed  by 
the  James  River  Canal,  which  was  the  most  important  transportation 
route  from  the  seaboard  to  the  interior  part  of  the  State,  until  the 
construction  of  the  Norfolk  and  Western  Railroad.  Lynchburg  was 
the  handling  station  of  all  goods  destined  for  south-west  Virginia, 
western  North  Carolina,  and  the  northern  part  of  the  east  Tennessee 

♦  822,930  bales  of  cotton  shipped  from  Norfolk  in  1905,  valued  at  $40,000,000. 

t  Population,  28,749,  in  1906. 

t  Tonnage  in  1902,  2,663,669  tons. 

§  Population  20,000 -+- in  1906. 


Virginia  Trade  and  Commerce.  '^ 

country.  The  old  Lynchburg-Knoxville  pike  was  constructed  for 
the  convenience  of  this  traffic.  The  James  River  ceased  to  be 
navigable  above  Richmond  when  it  became  unprofitable  to  operate 
the  canal,  after  which  time  Lynchburg's  importance  was  due  to  the 
trade  stimulus  as  fixed  by  the  old  transportation  regime,  and  the 
later  railroad  facilities.  In  total  manufactures  and  the  jobbing  trade 
it  ranks  next  to  Norfolk.  The  1906  factory  output  was  valued  at 
$15,000,000.  The  important  manufactures  are :  Shoes,  foundry  pro- 
ducts, tanning  extracts,  cotton  goods,  flour,  and  farming  implements. 
In  the  manufacture  of  shoes  it  ranks  first  among  the  cities  of  the 
South.  The  products  are  sold  throughout  Piedmont,  and  the  western 
part  of  the  State.  Lynchburg  is  the  largest  shoe-distributing  point 
in  the  South,  and  its  shoes  are  sold,  not  only  in  all  parts  of  Virginia, 
but  throughout  the  South  Atlantic  States. 

Roanoke"^  may  be  justly  termed  a  railroad  town,  as  its  size  and 
trade  have  been  largely  produced  by  the  Norfolk  and  Western  Rail- 
road, of  which  it  is  headquarters.  The.  company  employs  4,700 
operatives,  who  have  their  homes  in  the  city.  It  is  situated  on  the 
main  line  (Bristol-Norfolk)  of  the  Norfolk  and  Western  railway, 
and  is  the  southern  terminus  of  the  Shenandoah  Valley  and  the 
northern  terminus  of  the  Roanoke  and  Southern  railroads,  both  of 
which  are  owned  and  operated  by  the  Norfolk  and  Western.  The 
geographic  location  and  railway  service,  therefore,  make  it  the  east- 
ern gateway  into  south-west  Virginia,  and  the  southern  gateway  into 
the  Valley.  The  jobbing  and  retail  trade  have  steadily  increased, 
and  manufacturing  enterprises  have  begun  to  be  extensively  deve- 
loped. Roanoke  will  be  a  division  terminus  for  the  trans-State 
Tidewater  railroad,  which,  added  to  its  present  prosperous  trade 
relations,  bids  fair  to  make  it  the  largest  and  most  important  exclu- 
sively inland  city  of  Virginia.  The  most  important  outgoing  ship- 
ments are:  Groceries,  iron  products,  general  merchandise,  and  alco- 
holic drinks ;  and  the  most  important  incoming  shipments  are  lumber, 
grajn,  vegetables,  and  tobacco. 

Bristol'^  is  located  on  the  Virginia-Tennessee  boundary,  and,  as 
the  terminus  of  five  different  railroads,  is  an  important  rehandling 
station  and  distributing  centre.  It  is  southern  Appalachia's  most 
direct  gateway  to  the  south  and  east,  and  is,  therefore,  an  important 
trade  centre  for  that  region,  and  the  southernmost  portion  of  the 
Great  Valley. 

Three  of  the  railroads  operating  from  the  city  as  a  base  have  their 

*  Population  30,000  in  1905.  t  Population  15,000  in  1905. 


8  Virginia  Trade  and  Commerce. 

General  Offices  there.  It  is  also  the  headquarters  of  the  Virginia 
Iron,  Coal  and  Coke  Company,  with  a  capital  of  more  than  $10,000,- 
000.  The  most  important  manufactures  are :  Iron,  lumber  products, 
paper,  tanning  extract,  tobacco,  flour,  and  chemicals. 

The  value  of  the  manufactures  and  trade  has  been  more  than 
doubled  in  the  last  decade.  The  manufactures  of  1906  are  valued  at 
$10,500,000;  exclusive  of  lumber,  coal,  and  iron  products,  valued  at 
$10,000,000.  The  jobbing  trade  aggregated  $9,000,000,  which  shows 
Bristol's  importance  as  a  distributing  point. 

Danville"^  is  at  the  crossing  of  the  Southern  and  the  Danville  and 
Western  railroads.  It  is  the  largest  loose-leaf  tobacco  rnarket  in  the 
world,  handling  from  45,000,000  to  55,000,000  pounds  annually. 
Tobacco  is  the  principal  farm  product  of  the  region,  and  the  most 
important  article  in  trade.  The  city  is  situated  on  the  Dan  River, 
which  has  sufficient  volume  and  favourable  fall  for  the  establishment 
of  large  factory  enterprises.  Already  two  cotton  mills  have  been 
established,  with  a  combined  capital  stock  of  $4,500,000,  which  fur- 
nish employment  to  more  than  4,000  wage-earners. 

Inter-State  Commerce. 

Though  Virginia  is  making  marked  progress  in  the  development 
of  manufacturing  enterprises,  these  have  not  reached  such  propor- 
tions as  to  make  the  State  an  important  purchaser  of  raw  materials. 
The  rapid  development  of  cotton  factories  creates  an  increasing 
demand  for  raw  cotton.  In  1900  there  were  only  7  factories  within 
the  State;  while  in  1905  there  were  32,  which  consumed  57,223 
bales,  an  excess  of  39,049  bales  over  the  total  production  of  the 
State.  The  most  important  shipments,  therefore,  from  other  States 
for  domestic  use  consist  of  manufactured  products.  There  are  large 
shipments  from  other  States  into  Virginia,  destined  for  eastern  and 
foreign  markets,  which  require  rehandling;  and  for  these  due  allow- 
ance must  be  made  in  the  consideration  of  the  aggregate  port  trade, 
since  no  separate  record  is  kept  at  the  ports  of  the  traffic  originating 
within  the  State,  and  without  the  State.  This  rehandled  traffic 
creates  a  large  demand  for  labour,  sorting,  transfer,  and  shipping 
facilities,  and  in  that  way  becomes  an  important  factor  in  the  State's 
traffic  and  trade.  The  products  consist  chiefly  of  lumber,  cotton,  and 
tobacco  from  North  Carolina ;  lumber  and  live-stock  from  Tennessee ; 
and  lumber,  coal,  and  coke  from  West  Virginia. 

Virginia  produces   a   large   surplus   of   raw   and   manufactured 

*  Population  in  1900,  16.520. 


Virginia  Trade  and  Commerce.  9- 

tobacco,  garden  products,  forest  products,  coal  and  coke,  live-stock, 
and  peanuts ;  and  a  small  surplus  of  fruits,  poultry  products,  leather, 
meats,  and  iron.  These  constitute  the  bulk  of  the  outgoing  tonnage, 
the  major  portions  of  which  are  sold  in  the  North  Atlantic  and  New 
England  States.  The  most  important  markets  are:  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Boston,  Baltimore,  and  Washington.  Large  shipments 
of  live-stock  are  made  to  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  from  which  point 
they  are  sold  to  the  farmers  of  Pennsylvania  for  winter  fattening. 

The  inter-State  shipments  of  live-stock,  tobacco,  cotton,  and  vege- 
tables are  largely  by  rail.  More  than  three-fourths  of  the  sea- 
board lumber  traffic,  and  more  than  one-half  of  the  seaboard  coal 
shipments,  are  by  water.  Cotton  is  shipped  almost  exclusively  by 
;v^ater.  The  coastwise  trade  centres  in  Norfolk,  Newport  News, 
and  Richmond. 

Foreign  Commerce. 

The  total  imports  into  the  State  for  1905  were  valued  at  $10,885,- 
628,  and  the  exports  at  $23,409,119.  The  imports  were  largely 
general  merchandise,  and  the  exports  coal,  live-stock,  grain,  flour, 
cotton,  tobacco,  lumber,  and  meats.* 

Newport  News. — The  total  exportsf  from  this  port  for  1906  were 
valued  at  $18,693,803,  which  is  an  increase  of  18  per  cent  over  1905.$ 
The  following  are  the  important  classes,  in  the  order  of  valuation: 
Flour,  $3,095,649;  lumber,  $1,454,096;  lard,  $1,231,201;  copper, 
ingots,  &c.,  $1,100,623;  tobacco,  $1,038,483;  coal,  $925,275;  linseed 
oil  cake  meal,  $869,632;  cotton,  $506,056.  The  imports  aggregated 
$2,723,788,  an  increase  of  26  per  cent,  over  1905. §  The  following 
are  the  most  important,  in  the  order  of  valuation :  Burlap,  $376,388 ; 
jute  bags,  $336,025  ;  plate-glass,  $265,546 ;  alcoholic  drinks,  $231,903  ; 
earthenware,  $165,403;  and  cocoanut  oil,  $142,728. 

Norfolk  and  Portsmouth.\\ — The  following  are  the  important 
exports  from  this  port,  in  the  order  of  valuation  :^  Lard,  $1,180,441 ; 
coal,  $1,111,725;  lumber,  $1,000,000;  cotton,  $943,031;  grain  and 
flour,  $780,487;  tobacco,  $329,729;  and  cattle,  $305,300.  The  total 
exports  were  valued  at  $7,640,800  for  the  ■  year  ending  December, 
1905,  as  compared  with  $8,256,519,  the  total  imports  for  the  same 
year,  which  consisted  of  merchandise,  chemicals,  alcoholic  drinks, 

*  The  coastwise  trade  for  the  same  year  was  about  twelve  times  the  total  foreign  trade. 

t  Newport  Custom  House  Report,  1906. 

t  Exports  in  1905,  $15,750,310. 

§  Imports  in  1905,  $2,154,650. 

II  In  the  same  Custom  House  district. 

T  1905,  .  . 


10  Virginia  Trade  and  Commerce. 

burlap,  etc.  Norfolk  is  the  ocean  terminus  of  the  Tidewater  railroad, 
which  crosses  the  State  from  east  to  west.  Its  construction  is  for 
the  purpose  of  marketing  the  coal  from  one  of  West  Virginia's 
richest  fields.  The  grading  in  the  Virginia  portion  is  nearing  com- 
pletion, and  the  contracts  demand  that  the  road  be  ready  for  traffic 
by  January  1908.  It  will  probably  be  the  heaviest  coal  carrier  in  the 
State,  and  will  increase  the  coastwise  and  foreign  traffic  out  of 
Norfolk  at  least  25  per  cent. 

It  is  generally  believed  that  the  Tidewater  will  finally  be  extended 
to  the  intersection  with  the  Wabash  railroad,  and  be  consolidated 
with  that  system,  in  which  event  it  would  become  one  of  the  most 
important  trunk  lines. 


THIS  ^OOK  IS  ^E  ON  THB  XAST  BATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

AN  INITIAL  pTi^op  25  CENTS 

OVERDUE.  °    "^    "^    SEVENTH     DAY 


OCT  30  1933 


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^0^-^1-^334 


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DEC  23  t943 


L£^ 


—mrts-t 


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JAN 


LD  21-100w-7,'33 


239375 


# 


